The Vancouver Canadians crushed the Everett AquaSox 10-2 at Nat Bailey Stadium on Friday.
The first half of the game was a pitcher’s duel between Vancouver’s Trenton Wallace and Everett’s Bernie Martinez. Wallace struck out Tyler Locklear swinging to end the top of the first while Martinez retired Rainer Nuñez on a deep fly ball to the warning track in center field to complete a three-up, three down first inning.
Walking Cabrera was the first baserunner of the game for Everett. He reached first base on a throwing error by Josh Kasevich at short to start the top of the second. Cabrera went to second base on a one-out groundout by Mike Salvatore to first but Wallace struck out Cole Barr looking to end the inning.
It would be three-up, three-down from the bottom of the second inning to the top of the fourth. Michael Turconi was the closest to getting on base when he ran up the count to 3-1 before grounding out to second to begin the bottom of the third. Wallace would strike out the side by getting Ben Ramirez and Locklear looking and Cabrera swinging.
Vancouver’s first baserunner was a two-out single to left field by Nuñez before Martinez retired the side.
The AquaSox got their leadoff man aboard when Bednar reached second on a throwing error by Turconi at second as he put too much mustard on the throw that wound up into the AquaSox first base dugout. Bednar had to stay put as Gabby Martinez made a strong throw to third to retire Salvatore on a fly ball to right. as Wallace set down the next three hitters, getting Barr to strike out on a foul tip and Colin Davis to fly out to right.
The C’s would give Wallace some much-needed run support with a two-out rally in the bottom of the fifth. Turconi atoned for his error with a single up the middle and got to third when Garrett Spain pulled a single into right. Jommer Hernández walked to load to bases and Alan Roden delivered a two-out knock to right to drive in Turconi and Spain. In the battle of Martinez vs. Martinez, Gabby bested Bernie with a home run off the top of the left field porch to make it 5-0 Vancouver.
Abdiel Mendoza checked into the game for the C’s in the top of the sixth and struck out Ford swinging for the second out. A Ramirez two-out single to center was Everett’s first hit of the game. Turconi made a heads-up play to get Mendoza out of the frame. Locklear beat out an infield single to second but Turconi made a sliding stop on the ground ball and was able to make a strong, one-hop throw to third to get Ramirez for a 4-5 putout.
The C’s would add on against Martinez in the sixth when Alex De Jesus launched a 2-0 pitch into the left field porch to start the frame. Riley Tirotta reached base on a two-base throwing error at third by Barr. An infield single to second by Kasevich put runners on the corners for Turconi and the former Wake Forest product put the ball over the wall in right for a three-run homer to put Vancouver up 9-0.
The AquaSox spoiled the C’s shutout bid against Mendoza in the seventh. A Cabrera infield single to third, a Bednar base hit to right and a Salvatore single to left under the glove of De Jesus at third with nobody out got Cabrera to step on home plate. A Barr 6-4 fielder’s choice and a Davis 6-3 double play limited the damage for Mendoza.
The C’s would get to double digits in the run column against Jimmy Kingsbury in the seventh. Gabby Martinez touched green with a single to center just in front of a diving Cabrera. Martinez moved to second on a slow grounder to short by Nuñez. A sharp grounder by De Jesus eluded Locklear at first and went into right field to allow Martinez to score. Tirotta singled to left but that was it for the C’s in the inning.
Justin Kelly‘s first pitch in the top of the eighth resulted in an infield single to short by Erik Stock but Ford hit into a 5-4-3 double play. However, the AquaSox would get on the board when Ramirez walked on four pitches and scampered home on a Locklear double to the left field corner. Kelly ended the inning by striking out Cabrera.
Turconi ht an 9-2 pitch over the head of Davis in left against Tyler Driver to open the bottom of the eight. Spain drew a walk but that was all Vancouver would get.
Connor Cooke surrendered a single to left by Bednar in the top of the ninth but retired Salvatore on a pop-up to first, struck out Barr swinging and got Davis to fly out to center for the 27th out.
C-Notes
Wallace ran his record to 4-1 and has averaged exactly five innings a start. The only two runners he allowed came on errors. He struck out seven to put him in contention for the Northwest League’s Pitcher of the Week honours. Wallace now has an earned run average of 1.80.
Gabby Martinez was hitting .400 with 13 hits over his last 34 at-bats heading into Frida’s game. He improved on that by going 2-for-4 with three runs batted in on Friday. That factoid courtesy of Tyler Zickel in Friday’s press notes.
Turconi was a triple shy of the cycle after going 3-for-4 and is now hitting 305 on the season.
The Canadians take on the AquaSox again Saturday afternoon. Dahian Santos will sling the first pitch for Vancouver at 1:05 p.m. on CanadiansBaseball.com and MiLB.TV.
Radar Gun Rundown
Wallace had strikeouts of 90, 92, 89, 89, 90 and 90 miles per hour and was also at 76. Mendoza struck out a batter at 79 and was up to 94. Kelly ranged from 80-95 and had a K of 81. Cooke had a whiff at 97 and was at 83-98.
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