The Vancouver Canadians pulled out a 5-4 victory over the Hillsboro Hops at Nat Bailey Stadium on Wednesday.
C’s starter Adam Macko got through the first inning as he was able to strand a two-out walk to Ivan Melendez. The second inning did not go nearly as well for the lefthander. Jesus Valdez singled to center field on a 1-2 pitch to start the frame after falling two strikes behind in the count, Kevin Graham walked as did Shane Muntz on a 3-2 offering to load the bases. Garry Mattis Jr. put an 0-2 pitch into play with a sacrifice fly to right field to score Valdez. Julio Carreon walked on four straight pitches to re-load the bases. A check-swing grounder to short on a 0-2 pitch by Jonathan Guzman allowed Graham to score the Hops second run. Josh Day—a strikeout victim in the first—jumped on the first pitch he saw for a single to right to drive in Muntz to give Hillsboro a 3-0 lead. Melendez was hit by a pitch after a nine-pitch at-bat but Macko escaped further trouble when he struck out J.J. D’Orazio looking on his 51st pitch.
Meantime, Hops starter Billy Corcoran overcame a leadoff walk to Alan Roden in the first and stranded a leadoff single to short by Michael Turconi and a stolen base in the second.
Abdiel Mendoza took the ball from Macko to work the third inning and was greeted by a leadoff base hit by Valdez but induced a comeback to the mound for a 1-6 fielder’s choice by Graham. Mendoza caught Graham leaning at first base and picked him off for the second out before striking out Muntz to end the frame.
Like Mendoza, Corcoran allowed a baserunner with nobody out in the bottom of the third but also faced the minimum. Estiven Machado drew a walk but was doubled off when Roden lined out to Muntz at first for the unassisted double play.
In the top of the fourth, Julio Carrion singled to left with one out but Mendoza got the next two hitters as he struck out Guzman on three straight pitches.
The C’s finally solved Corcoran in the bottom of the fourth. Cade Doughty reached on a throwing error by Melendez at third. Doughty was originally awarded first base but Vancouver manager Brent Lavallee pointed out that Doughty should be at second base as the ball went into the out-of-play area where the metal bench is situated next to the Hops dugout before caroming back out onto the field. Home plate umpire Cas Cousins and base ump Shin Koishizawa got together for a discussion and agreed that Doughty should get the extra 90 feet. Alex De Jesús then doubled to the left field corner to plate Doughty with the C’s first run. Michael Turconi singled to right to plate past a diving Day at second to score De Jesus for run number two.
Josh Kasevich grounded into a 5-4 fielder’s choice that eliminated Turconi from the basepaths. Listher Sosa emerged from the Hillsboro pen and despite Kasevich stealing second, Vancouver could not bring in the tying run.
The fifth inning saw both teams held off the board with Mendoza striking out D’Orazio as part of a 1-2-3 frame. Machado singled on the first pitch from Sosa in the bottom of the inning and stole second base. Roden got Machado over to third with a 3-1 groundout on a close play at first but Machado would be left stranded.
Conor Larkin relieved Mendoza for the sixth inning and snared a liner off the bat of Graham just two pitches in. The Irish hurler then struck out Muntz and Mattis to cap off a perfect frame.
The C’s would pull even in the sixth against Sosa. De Jesus worked the count full before drawing a leadoff walk and swiping second base with one out. Then things took an interesting turn. Kasevich hit a ground ball to Muntz at first but he did not make a move towards the bag, seeing that Sosa was not there to cover from the mound and that allowed Kasevich to pick up an infield knock. Dasan Brown brought De Jesus home with a groundout to Valdez at short who made a strong throw after fielding the ball on the backhand. However, replays on MiLB.TV showed it should have been an RBI infield single instead of an RBI groundout. C’s manager Brent Lavallee and first base coach Danny Canellas expressed their displeasure with the call from Koishizawa. Vancouver native Eli Saul relieved Sosa and the former Prince of Wales Secondary School graduate retired Jommer Hernández on a grounder to second to leave Kasevich at second base.
A pair of one-out singles by Guzman and Day to right and left field got Larkin in a jam in the top of the seventh but he recovered by striking out the Hops number three and four hitters Melendez and D’Orazio looking.
A base hit by Machado started the bottom of the seventh but Roden hit into a 3-6 fielder’s choice. Roden stole second but Saul managed to get out of the inning unscathed despite failing behind in the count at 2-0 to three consecutive batters.
The C’s brought in Justin Kelly to work the eighth and he got Valdez to bounce back to the mound for the first out. Graham would put Hillsboro in front again when he sent a 2-0 pitch just over the right field wall near the fair pole.
Vancouver looked to tie the game in the bottom of the eighth against Saul when Kasevich doubled down the right field line with two outs. In a battle of Oakville, Ontario versus Vancouver, BC, Brown singled to right but Carreon threw out Kasevich at the plate to preserve Hillsboro’s one-run lead.
Matt Svanson took care of Hillsboro in the ninth, capping off a perfect frame with a strikeout of Day.
Zach Barnes was asked to close it out for the Hops in the bottom of the frame. After Machado flew out to left on a 3-2 pitch for the second out, Hillsboro was on the verge of victory. Roden kept the rally alive by drawing a walk to bring Spain to the plate. The former Austin Peay Governor was 0-for-4 with two strikeouts but he did not miss a Barnes 0-1 offering as he belted a two-run home run to right to give the C’s the walk-off victory.
C-Notes
Spain’s blast left the yard at 97 miles per hour at 385 feet for his team-leading seven homer of the season. Svanson got the victory in relief to run his record to 4-0.
Spain’s heroics were made possible after Mendoza kept Hillsboro in check for three innings of two-hit ball and striking out three. Spain was awarded the Monty’s Mounties swag chain and Mendoza got to don the oversized C’s cap for his efforts.
Saul had a very vocal support group in the stands and was in line for the win before Spain spoiled the party for Arizona’s 2022 13th-round pick from Sacramento State. 2017 C’s pitcher Justin Dillon also went to Sac State. The younger brother of C’s pitcher Devereaux Harrison, Griffin Harrison, is currently in his freshman season with the Hornets.
Vancouver is now 33-25 on the season and has a one-game lead on Spokane for first place in the Northwest League after Spokane’s loss to Eugene on Wednesday. Tri-City fell to 2-1/2 games back after losing at home to Everett.
The Canadians and Hops play the third game of this six-game set at 7:05 p.m. Rafael Sanchez is slated to start for Monty’s Mounties. Tyler Zickel will call the action on CanadiansBaseball.com and MiLB.TV.
Radar Gun Rundown
Macko was around 79-98 miles per hour with strikeouts at 86 and 95. Mendoza had strikeouts at 81, 80 and 92 and was up to 93. Larkin was at 79 and recorded punchouts of 81, 82, 92 and 81. Kelly was in the 88-98 range. Svanson was at 85 and had a whiff at 95.
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