The Vancouver Canadians were trounced by the Tri-City Dust Devils 9-1 at Nat Bailey Stadium on Wednesday.
Hunter Gregory got the start for the home side and overcame a two-out error by Alex De Jesus at third base in the first inning. Alexander Ramirez hit a grounder towards the left side of the infield that shortstop Josh Kasevich had a bead on but De Jesus cut in front of Kasevich, almost leading to a collision.
Gregory did not get away unscathed in the second. He struck out the first two batters, getting an automatic strike three on D’Shawn Knowles for a time count violation. A pair of base hits up the middle past a diving Kasevich at short by Osmy Gregorio and Christian Sepulveda kept the inning going with Sepulveda’s single to center coming on a 0-2 pitch. Brendan Tinsman also delivered on another 0-2 offering to punch a single to right to score Gregorio with the game’s first run.
The third inning saw Gregory whiff the first two men he faced before Gabe Matthews walked and stole second. This time, Gregory got out of the frame by getting Joe Stewart to pop out to second.
The Canadians offence had two runners on in the first two innings. In the bottom of the first, Gabby Martinez drew a one-out walk against Tri-City starter Sammy Natera Jr. and De Jesus got aboard on a two-out fielding error by shortstop Arol Vera but Kasevich struck out swinging.
An Alan Roden leadoff walk and a two-out free pass to Juan Gonzalez were left stranded in the second when Dasan Brown flew out to short.
Eric Pardinho was summoned from the Vancouver arm barn in the fourth and got into early trouble with a one-out walk to Gregorio to go along with two wild pitches. Gregorio tagged up at third to try to score on a Sepulveda shallow fly ball to left-center but Brown’s one-hop throw was on the money as Gonzalez tagged out Gregorio for the 8-2 double play.
The C’s got two more baserunners on in the fourth against Tri-City reliever Nick Mondak when Roden and Doughty heard ball four with one out but Michael Turconi and Juan Gonzalez could not make contact as Natera got them both swinging.
The game took a turn for the worse for Vancouver in the fifth. Pardinho walked Tinsman to start the stanza and Adrian Placencia singled to right. Vera laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners and Ramirez struck out swinging but Pardinho could not get that final out. Matthews walked to load the bases and Stewart beat out a slow chopper that bounced over Pardinho’s head to second and Doughty’s throw was not on time as Tinsman scored Tri-City’s second run. A Knowles walk plated Placencia before Gregorio hit a hot smash that struck Pardinho on the chest, leading to Matthews and Stewart scoring to make it 5-0 Tri-City. When the ball struck Pardinho, it went to Doughty at second and his throw to the bag was in time to get Knowles but Knowles used a swim move to avoid Kasevich’s tag. Knowles and Gregorio would score when Sepulveda doubled to left to for runs six and seven. Lefthander Cooper Benson stopped the bleeding by striking out Tinsman looking.
After sending 10 men to the plate in the fifth, Tri-City got eight more batters in the box in the sixth. Benson walked Placencia and Vera to start the inning before a double steal and a two-out walk to Knowles plated Placencia. Devereaux Harrison checked into the game for Benson but he walked Gregorio to score Vera to make it 9-0 for the visitors.
Vancouver finally got its first base hit of the night when Gonzalez punched a single to left against Emilker Guzman. Their first extra-base hit of the night and the season for the C’s came when Martinez ripped a double to the left field corner to commence the bottom of the eighth. Kasevich spoiled the shutout bid with a two-out ground-rule double to right to score Gonzalez.
Connor Cooke kept Tri-City from reaching double digits. He relieved Harrison and stranded a one-out bloop single to shallow left field by Matthews by striking out Knowles swinging. The former Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin’ Cajun struck out Gregorio and Sepulveda to start the ninth but a Kasevich throwing error at short and a Vera walk, the 12th free pass of the night for Tri-City kept the inning going. Cooke then ended the frame by whiffing Ramirez.
Kelvin Caceres retired the side in order to complete the eight-run victory for the Dust Devils.
C-Notes
The 1-1 Canadians will take on Tri-City in the final night game of this six-game series. The first pitch is at 7:05 p.m. and it is expected to be thrown by lefthander Trenton Wallace. The game is available on CanadiansBaseball.com and MiLB.TV with Tyler Zickel.
Of note, 2014 Canadians shortstop Franklin Barreto homered twice as Rochester defeated Buffalo 8-4 Wednesday.
2022 Canadians Zach Britton and Steward Berroa provided all the offence in New Hampshire’s 3-2 win over Portland. Berroa’s blast was a two-run shot in the eighth. Sem Robberse struck out eight over five innings of one-run ball.
Radar Gun Rundown
Gregory had strikeouts at 95 93, 89. 93 and 82 miles per hour and also checked in at 80. Pardinho lit up the gun at 87, had a K at 93 and ranged from 78-95. Benson had strikeouts at 79 and 82 and was also at 77. Harrison rang up batters at 93. 96 and 92. Cooke’s Ks were at 83, 87 and 88.
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