The Vancouver Canadians scored 12 of the 20 runs once again at Funko Field to defeat the Everett AquaSox 12-8 Wednesday.
The C’s staged a two-out rally in the first inning against Jordan Jackson. An infield single by Rainer Nuñez to the mound and a Gabby Martinez walk set the table for Riley Tirotta who drove them in with a home run to left-center field to put Vancouver ahead 3-0.
The AquaSox matched that with a two-out rally of their own in the first against Michael Dominguez. Alberto Rodriguez singled to left and scored on a Robert Perez Jr. double to center for Everett’s first run. Ben Ramirez singled to right to score Perez before Dariel Gomez doubled off the wall in center to drive in Ramirez with the tying run.
Everett would take the lead in the second. Ty Duvall doubled to right to start the inning and Charlie Welch worked a walk on a 3-2 pitch with two outs. Rodriguez then singled to right off Dominguez to bring Duvall home.
Vancouver would pull even and go ahead again in the fifth. Garrett Spain singled to center field and went to third after Dasan Brown got a sinking liner to drop in left field. Alex De Jesus singled up the middle to sent Spain and Brown home. That was followed by a two-run home run by Nuñez to make it 7-4 for Monty’s Mounties.
The Canadians padded their lead in the sixth against Peyton Alford. A one-out walk by Jommer Hernandez and a fielding error by Cole Barr at third allowed Miguel Hiraldo to reach base. Brown dropped down a bunt single with two outs to load the bases and that allowed De Jesus to drive in Hernandez and Hiraldo with a base hit to center. De Jesus was thrown out trying to go for a double to end the rally.
Vancouver would break into double-digits in the run column against Jorge Benitez. A walk by Nuñez and a Gabby Martinez double to right put runners in scoring position before Benitez threw a wild pitch to allow Nuñez to cross the plate.
Everett would not go down easy as they rallied in the eighth against Garrett Farmer. A Victor Labrada base hit to right came home on a home run by Welch to right-center to start the eighth. Eric Pardinho entered the game and retired Rodriguez on a 3-1 putout but a walk to Perez and a single to left by Ramirez would come in to score on a Gomez double to center and a James Parker sacrifice fly respectively to make it a 10-8 game.
The Canadians would wrap up the scoring in the ninth against Michael Flynn. A Martinez single to center, a Tirotta double to right and P.K. Morris walk loaded the bases with nobody out. Hernandez hit into a 3-2-3 double play that forced Martinez out at the plate but Hiraldo salvaged the rally with a two-out single to the nine-spot to score Tirotta and pinch-runner Hugo Cardona.
C-Notes
The C’s had just one baserunner get aboard from the second through fourth innings when Nuñez reached base on an error by Parker at short with two outs in the third.
Tirotta had a two-out single after Nuñez’s homer in the fifth to chase Jackson from the game but was thrown out by Duvall on the plate with Alford on the mound.
Tirotta and De Jesus paced the C’s 15-hit offensive with three apiece with Tirotta finishing a triple shy of the cycle and De Jesus driving in four runs. Brown, Nuñez, Martinez and Spain had two-hit contributions with Nuñez and Martinez also drawing a walk. Hiraldo had a hit, Hernandez walked twice and Morris heard ball four once to give all nine C’s starters at least a hit or a walk. Tirotta belted his sixth homer of the year with his parents Mike and Stacy in attendance. Nuñez went deep for the second straight night with his second dinger as a Canadian. With runners in scoring position, Vancouver converted on five of their 11 chances with seven men left on base.
Hernandez walked after Benitez’s wild pitch to put runners on the corners but Hiraldo hit into a 4-6 fielder’s choice to end the seventh inning rally.
De Jesus singled to center with two outs off Bernie Martinez in the eighth inning but was stranded. Spain also singled to center in the ninth off Flynn for the C’s last hit of the night.
Dominguez ended the first two innings with strikeouts with his second inning punchout of Ramirez leaving the bases loaded after Perez’s walk on the heels of Rodriguez’s RBI single. In the third inning, Dominguez faced the minimum when a Gomez leadoff walk was wiped out when Hernandez threw out the Northwest League’s leading home run hitter trying to steal second base. The fourth inning saw Dominguez get the first two men but a walk to Welch ended his night. Naswell Paulino stranded Welch by striking out Rodriguez looking on three pitches. The lefty surrendered a leadoff single to Perez on the first pitch of the fifth but roared back by striking out the side swinging by sitting down Gomez, Ramirez and Parker. Paulino walked Barr to start the sixth but struck out Labrada on the way to retiring the side.
Garrett Farmer faced six batters in the seventh but got away unscathed. Ramirez reached on an infield single to short with one out before striking out Gomez swinging. A Parker single to left and a Duvall walk loaded the bases but Barr flied out to right to end the inning.
Pardinho walked Duvall with two outs following Parker’s sac fly but he struck out Barr to preserve the C’s two run lead in the eighth. The Brazilian righthander came back out for the ninth inning and got the first two hitters out, including a whiff of Welch but Rodriguez extended the inning with an infield single to short. Perez then singled to bring the potential tying run on deck. Justin Kelly was called in from the C’s bullpen and threw just two pitches with the second resulting in a game-ending groundout to second by Ramirez.
Dominguez pitched 3-2/3 innings and gave up four runs on six hits and four walks while striking out two. Paulino worked around a hit and two walks and struck out five, stranding a runner for Dominguez over 2-1/3 innings to get the win. Farmer worked one-inning plus and gave up two runs on four hits and walk while whiffing one. Pardinho pitched 1-2/3 innings and was also charged with two runs on four hits and two walks while collecting a couple of K’s. Kelly stranded two runners for Pardinho and earned his second save of the year.
There were 188 dogs in attendance as the AquaSox held a Bark in the Park night at Funko Field Wednesday. The C’s had 511 canines in the crowd for its Dog Day of Summer back in June.
Vancouver got some good news on the out-of-town scoreboard Wednesday. The Tri-CIty Dust Devils came back from a pair of three-run deficits to beat Spokane 13-8 and that gives the C’s a 1-1/2 game lead for second place in the overall standings. First-half winner and second-half leader Eugene also lost Thursday to Hillsboro and that leaves Vancouver 1-1/2 games back of the Emeralds for first place in the second half. Vancouver is 26-17 in the second half and 56-50 overall.
The C’s lead the Northwest League in doubles with 201 and triples with 36 and are in second in on-base percentage (.329), slugging (.398) and OPS (.727), trailing the Emeralds in those categories. Vancouver is also second in stolen bases with 161, trailing Spokane by 20.
On the mound, Vancouver has a 4.04 earned run average to place them third in the NWL and are second in saves with 27.
The Canadians and AquaSox play the third game of this series tonight. Juan Mercedes will throw the first pitch for Everett at 7:05 p.m. Chad Dallas will be on the bump for Vancouver. The game is on CanadiansBaseball.com at 7:05 p.m.
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