The Vancouver Canadians pulled out a 9-8 victory over the Everett AquaSox at Funko Field Thursday.
The AquaSox picked up the game’s first run off Chad Dallas who walked Victor Labrada on four straight pitches to open the game. Labrada stole second an scored on a Ben Ramirez base hit to left.
The C’s tied it in the second inning with a two-out rally against Juan Mercedes. P.K. Morris singled up the middle and came home on a Glenn Santiago double to left.
Another two-out rally in the third put Vancouver ahead. Andrés Sosa singled up the middle to keep the inning going for Rainer Nuñez who has found his home run stroke as he went deep to center field off Mercedes for the third straight game to put the C’s up 3-1.
Everett would cut the lead to one when Ramirez took Dallas over the wall in the fence for a two-out home run in the bottom of the third.
The Canadians would score again in the fourth when Mercedes issued a leadoff walk to Riley Tirotta. That was followed by a Morris base hit to right and a Santiago single to center to bring Tirotta in with Vancouver’s fourth run.
The Frogs would pull to within a run again in the fourth. Dariel Gomez doubled to right with one out and after a Mike Salvatore walk, Cole Barr singled to left off Dallas to drive in Gomez.
Vancouver would enjoy their biggest inning of the night in the fifth against Fred Villarreal. Sosa walked with one out and Damiano Palmegiani walked with two outs. Tirotta loaded the bases with an infield single to second before Morris unloaded them with a grand slam to center to boost the C’s lead to 8-3.
As usual, Everett would not lay down and accept defeat. They chipped away with a run in the fifth. Charlie Welch greeted Mason Fluharty with a base hit up the middle. A one-out throwing error by Hugo Cardona at short allowed Welch to score the fourth AquaSox run.
In the seventh, the Frogs drew closer as Labrada doubled to left to begin the inning off Sam Ryan. A Welch fly ball to right and a Ramirez sacrifice fly brought Labrada home. Robert Perez Jr. extended the fram with an infield single to second. A Trent Tingelstad double to third sent Perez to third before a Sosa passed ball on a ball four pitch to Gomez allowed Perez to score.
Everett completed the comeback in the bottom of the eighth. Ryan walked Barr to open the eighth before Alberto Rodriguez pinch-hit for Justin Lavey and singled to right to get Barr over to third. Jol Concepcion took over on the hill and struck out Labrada swinging on a 3-2 pitch but Welch singled to left to drive in Barr and pinch-runner James Parker. Welch was cut down at second on a 7-6-2-4 putout.
The C’s would answer back in the ninth off Matt Willrodt. The inning began with a leadoff walk to Sosa and he would steal second base with one out and swipe third during a Palmegiani walk. A Tirotta 5-4 fielder’s choice allowed Sosa to reach the pentagon for the winning run.
C-Notes
The C’s stranded runners in scoring position in the fifth and sixth. Santiago’s single and stolen base after Morris’ grand slam and Sosa’s two-out double in the sixth were left 180 feet away. Spain lined out to the mound in the fifth and Nunez struck out swinging to end the sixth.
Santiago reached on an error by Barr at third to start the eighth but he made it no further. Tirotta was advanced to second base in the ninth after his fielder’s choice RBI when Morris singled to right but Santiago lined out to third for the final out.
Morris homered for the 10th time this season and added three singles. Sosa was also on base four times with a double, a single and two walks and stole two bases to give him six on the year. Santiago had a three-hit night that included a double and stole his first base of the year. Tirotta singled and walked and Palmegiani heard ball four twice. Nunez hit his third straight dinger in as many games.
Dallas got into a bases-loaded jam after Ramirez’s RBI single in the first when Perez reached on a Palmegiani fielding error at third and Tingelstad walked but Gomez hit into an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play.
Fluharty retired the last five hitters he faced, striking out Gomez to end the fifth and leave Perez at third base. The sixth inning saw Salvatore called out on strikes and Barr go down swinging before Lavey grounded to short for a 1-2-3 frame.
After Everett tied the game in the eighth, they came close to regaining the lead. Ramirez singled to right, Perez walked and Tingelstad reached base on an error by Cardona at short but Cardona recovered to throw out Ramirez at the plate to keep the score tied at 8-8.
Concepcion retired the side in order in the ninth, striking out Gomez swinging, getting Salvatore to ground out to short and freezing Barr looking at strike three to end the game.
Dallas pitched four innings and gave up three runs on four hits and three walks. He struck out six and recorded all four outs in play on the fake turf. Fluharty gave up an unearned run on one hit but struck out four over two frames and had a 3-0 groundout/flyout total. Ryan was charged with four runs (three earned) on four hits and two walks in one-plus innings. Concepcion allowed two Ryan runners to score and got a blown save but picked up the win to go to 5-3. He gave up two hits and a walk while striking out three.
The C’s remain 1-1/2 games ahead of Spokane for a playoff spot with a record of 57-50 but are now just a half-game behind Eugene for first place in the second half with a mark of 27-17.
The Canadians will have lefty Trenton Wallace on the mound. Bryan Woo will throw the first pitch for the AquaSox. The game is on CanadiansBaseball.com at 7:05 p.m.
The C’s have also announced that Dahian Santos will start Saturday and Troy Watson will go on Sunday in the series finale. Santos will be making his C’s debut.
C-Tweets
C's Plus Baseball | A Vancouver Canadians Blog 