The Vancouver Canadians punched their ticket to the 2023 postseason after a 5-1 victory over the Hillsboro Hops at Nat Bailey Stadium on Sunday.
Vancouver starter Kevin Miranda struck out Jonathan Guzman and Channy Ortiz to start a perfect top of the first inning which ended with a nice over-the-shoulder catch by second baseman Cade Doughty off the bat of Jesus Valdez. The top of the second saw Shane Muntz reach first on an error when a throw from Alex De Jesús at third base sailed high but Miranda got Garry Mattis Jr. to ground into a 6-4-3 inning-ending double play.
Hillsboro starter Yilber Diaz was pumping gas to begin the game with fastballs at 98 and 99 miles per hour and he retired the side in order in the first. The top of the second saw the C’s get the first two hits of the game when Doughty and De Jesús opened with back-to-back singles to left field with both hits coming on 1-2 pitches. One out later, Josh Kasevich singled up the middle to score Doughty and give Vancouver a 1-0 lead. Dasan Brown—who homered in the playoff clincher against the Eugene Emeralds last September—dialled up another long ball on Diaz’s next pitch as he connected for a three-run dinger into the C’s bullpen in left-center field wall to put the C’s up 4-0.
Hillsboro’s first hit came from Oyen, Alberta’s Gavin Logan who lined a single to right just off the glove of a diving Doughty at second with one out in the top of the third. Julio Carrion then singled to center but a 6-4 fielder’s choice from Guzman and a strikeout of Ortiz got Miranda out of the inning.
Andrés Sosa drilled a double to the left-center field wall to open the third but Diaz kept the Vancouver catcher 180 feet away from home by setting down the next three hitters in order.
Doughty ranged towards the shortstop side of second base and made a strong throw to retire Valdez for the first out of the top of the fourth. That came two pitches before Ivan Melendez drilled a solo home run to the seating area of the Vancouver bullpen in left-center field to make it a 4-1 game. Miranda shook that off with consecutive strikeouts of Muntz and Mattis to close out the fourth.
Vancouver got another extra-base hit in the fourth when Kasevich doubled off the wall in right-center field with one out but like Sosa in the third, he would not advance any further.
Lefty Cooper Benson took over for Miranda in the top of the fifth and issued a leadoff walk to S.P. Chen. A Logan 3-6 fielder’s choice forced Chen at second before Benson got a 5-4-3 double play ball from Carrion to get out of the frame.
The Hops also went to their arm barn with righthander Zach Barnes entering the game. He walked Alan Roden on four straight pitches but got Sosa to pop up to Ortiz at second. The ball clanked off Ortiz’s glove but he was still able to force Roden out at second base for a 4-6 fielder’s choice. Michael Turconi doubled to left-center and Sosa tried to score from first but was thrown out on an 8-6-2 play. Turconi was also stranded at second when Doughty flew out to left.
Another leadoff walk from Benson began the top of the sixth as Guzman walked. Ortiz flew out to right on a running catch by Spain and he made a quick throw on the run to nearly double off Guzman at first. Benson would strike out Valdez and Melendez to put up another zero on the board.
Peñiel Otaño worked the bottom of the sixth for the Hops and wiped out a one-out walk by Spain by getting Kasevich to hit into a 4-3 double play.
The Hops got another leadoff walk in the seventh from new C’s reliever Ryan Boyer when Muntz heard ball four. Boyer would strike out Mattis before Spain made a leaping catch against the right field wall to rob Chen of extra bases. The former Austin Peay Governor threw the ball back to first to easily double off Muntz for an inning-ending 9-3 double play.
Junior Mieses lost Devonte Brown on a one-out walk before the former North Carolina State product stole second and went to third on a wild pitch. However, the C’s could not expand their lead when Roden grounded out to third with a drawn-in infield and Sosa also hit a grounder to third to end that rally.
Conor Larkin struck out the first batter he faced by whiffing Logan on the way to a perfect eighth inning. Vancouver finally scored again in the bottom of the frame against lefty Will Mabrey. A Turconi double to left got things started as his fly ball near the line just fell in before a hustling Mattis. Turconi tagged up to go to third on a Doughty fly ball to right. De Jesús singled to left under the glove of Ortiz at short with a drawn-in infield to bring home Turconi with the C’s fifth run.
Justin Kelly plunked Ortiz on the right foot on a 0-2 pitch to give Hillsboro yet another leadoff runner. Valdez popped up to first on the next pitch for the first out and Melendez hit a slow roller to Kasevich at short who tossed it to second where Doughty helped turn the 6-4-3 double play with a throw to Turconi at first to clinch the first half Northwest League pennant. Benson got the win in relief to boost his record to 5-0.
C-Notes
Dasan Brown made the sellout crowd of 6,413 people happy with his home run on Sunday but nobody was happier than his father, Raynes Brown, who was at the game on Sunday. He was among those throwing out the ceremonial first pitches for Father’s Day on Sunday along with Tim Svanson, the father of C’s pitcher Matt Svanson and Mark Zickel, father of broadcaster Tyler ZIckel. C’s manager Brent Lavallee also took part with two of his kids on the field.
Another week and another Northwest League Pitcher of the Week award for a Vancouver hurler. Reliever Abdiel Mendoza won the June 12-18 plaudits for shutting out the Hops over six innings covering two relief appearances. The 24-year-old from Chite, Panama struck out six batters, allowed just three hits with no walks and collected a save. Mendoza, Chad Dallas, Trenton Wallace, Dahian Santos and Devereaux Harrison (twice) have all won NWL Pitcher of the Week honours in 2023.
The Canadians are 10 games above the .500 mark at 36-26. They will have home field advantage for the Northwest League best-of-five final in September as they have earned the right to host Games 1, 2 and (if necessary) 5 at Nat Bailey Stadium. The regular season ends in Tri-City on Sunday, September 10. According to the schedule on CanadiansBaseball.com, the playoffs will begin with Games 1 and 2 on Tuesday, September 12 and Wednesday, September 13. Games 3, 4 and 5 are set for Friday, September 15, Saturday, September 16 and Sunday, September 17 respectively.
Edit – Games 1 and 2 will be on the road on September 12 and 13 with Games 3, 4 and 5 at Nat Bailey Stadium on September 15-17 according to the September schedule on CanadiansBaseball.com.
Monty’s Mounties will wrap up the first half of the season and begin the second half in Eugene on Tuesday for a six-game series. Tuesday’s game is at 6:35 p.m. on CanadiansBaseball.com and MiLB.TV. Friday’s game at P.K. Park marks the start of the second half.
2019 and 2021 Vancouver Canadians first baseman Spencer Horwitz singled to right field against Jon Gray of the Texas Rangers in his first at-bat in the majors on Sunday. He walked twice, scored a run and drove in a run at Globe Life Park.
Radar Gun Rundown
Miranda was up to 91 miles per hour and had strikeouts at 78, 82, 82, 82 and 84. Benson was around 77-94 with punchouts at 90 and 91. Boyer had a strikeout at 95, Larkin had a K at 85 and was up to 94. I was too caught up in the ninth inning anticipation of a playoff clinch to record Kelly’s pitch speeds.
C-Tweets
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