The Vancouver Canadians were embarrassed 11-1 by the Hillsboro Hops at Ron Tonkin Field on Wednesday.
The Hops scored twice in the first when Wilderd Patiño singled to left off C’s starter Kevin Miranda and scored on a Manuel Peña triple to right. Peña came home on a throwing error by Michael Turconi at short as his throw took catcher Kekai Rios up the first base side after a ground ball by J.J. D’Orazio.
In the bottom of the second, Miranda struck out Brett Johnson as the second out of the inning before Channy Ortiz tripled to center and Patiño walked and stole second. Miranda got out of the inning when he covered the bag after getting Peńa to ground out to first.
Hillsboro put the game away in the bottom of the third. Ivan Melendez launched a home run to left field to begin the inning off Miranda. Shane Muntz doubled to left to score two more runs to chase Miranda from the contest. Channy Ortiz then singled to left off reliever Cooper Benson after the ball was deflected by Alex De Jesús at third to make it 6-0 Hillsboro.
The C’s batters could not figure out Hillsboro starter Dylan Ray. An infield single by Turconi in the first and an Alan Roden base hit to left in the third came with two outs. De Jesús drew a one-out walk and moved to second on a wild pitch but was stranded. Rios had the first extra-base hit for Vancouver with a one-out ground-rule double to left in the fifth but only made as far as third on a Lyle Lin groundout to first.
C’s reliever Hunter Gregory appeared in the top of the sixth in his first appearance since going on the injured list in mid-May. The good news was he struck out Patiño to begin the inning and later whiffed Muntz. The bad news was a three-run home run to right-center by D’Orazio and two-out singles to center by Johnson and to right by Ortiz tacked on two more runs to put Hillsboro up by 11.
Gabby Martinez singled to center with one out and Garrett Spain walked in the top of the seventh but Hops reliever Liam Norris kept the C’s off the board in the sixth. Matt Svanson also worked around a pair of baserunners in the bottom of the frame when he walked Peña and allowed a single to right by D’Orazio but struck out Josh Day to eventually wiggle his way out of that jam.
Dasan Brown drew a one-out walk in the eighth, leading to Norris’ exit from the game but Will Mabrey would get the final two outs.
Lin was called to the mound after starting the game at first base and put up a zero against his former teammates. He issued a leadoff walk to Muntz on a 3-2 pitch but bounced back to get the next three hitters, handling a comebacker to the mound from Patiño to end the frame. Roden took over at first for Lin and made two putouts.
Vancouver spoiled Hillsboro’s shutout bid when Cade Doughty doubled to center and scored when Spain went up the middle for a one-out knock against Mabrey who then retired the next two hitters to end the game.
C-Notes
Canadians righthander Devereaux Harrison was named the Northwest League Pitcher of the Month for June. The former Long Beach State product won all three of his decisions with a 0.78 earned run average while striking out 20 batters over 23 innings. The highlight of the month was Harrison throwing six innings of no-hit ball in a seven-inning no-no in Everett on June 10, earning him NWL Pitcher of the Week honours as well. Along with a Pitcher of the Week award in May, that’s three times the 22-year-old Harrison has been recognized by the Northwest League for his pitching exploits this season.
Vancouver is now 7-4 in the second half and leads Eugene, Everett and Spokane by one game and Hillsboro by two games. Tri-City is four games off the pace.
Adam Macko will be on the hill for Vancouver in the third game of this six-game set on Thursday. The game is on CanadiansBaseball.com and MiLB.TV.
C-Changes
Righthander Ryan Boyer has been promoted to Triple-A Buffalo according to the transactions page at CanadiansBaseball.com. The 26-year-old was money in the bank out of the C’s bullpen this year with 10 shutout innings over eight appearances in which he struck out 12 batters and walked only three. Boyer was also 2-0 with a 2.45 ERA with Vancouver in 2022. All the best to the former University of Pittsburgh-Bradford hurler in Western New York.
Righthander Anders Tolhurst has been promoted to Vancouver from Dunedin. The 23-year-old from Santee, California was Toronto’s 23rd round pick in the 2019 MLB Draft from Grossmont College. He was originally assigned to Vancouver on June 26, 2019 but he never threw a pitch for the C’s or anyone else for that matter due to injury. He finally got back on the mound in late July 2022 when he logged 12-1/3 innings between the Florida Coast League and Dunedin Blue Jays. The 6-foot-4, 190-pound hurler was then assigned to the Arizona Fall League to get more innings under his belt.
Another stint on the injured list meant Tolhurst did not get to pitch again until June as he put together two scoreless appearances spanning three innings in the FCL before joining the D-Jays. Four of his six outings with Dunedin were of the shutout variety, including his last three in a row which included back-to-back three strikeout efforts against Clearwater on June 24 (1-1/3 innings) and at St. Lucie on June 28 (2 innings). In 8-2/3 innings with Dunedin, Tolhurst had a K/BB total of 11-2. He will wear number 36 for Vancouver.
C-Alumni Report
The Toronto Blue Jays have released 2017 C’s lefthander Brody Rodning. The 13th round pick in 2017 out of Minnesota State-Mankato spent the majority of his first professional season with Vancouver and contributed a 4-1 record with a 4.64 ERA to help the C’s win the Northwest League championship. He did reach Double-A New Hampshire in 2019 but missed all of 2022 due to Tommy John surgery. The 27-year-old from Gaylord, Minnesota made it back to the mound in early June and threw five shutout innings in four appearances with the FCL Blue Jays and allowed just one unearned run in 4-1/3 innings with Dunedin. That unearned run came in his last appearance against St. Lucie when he tossed 1-1/3 innings. After a 7-0 strikeout/walk total with the FCL, it was 5-3 with Dunedin and he had a WHIP of 1.62. With the upcoming MLB Draft, Rodning ran out of time and got caught up in the numbers game. All the best to Brody in his future endeavours.
Another lefty from the 2017 Canadians has also been let go as Jake Fishman was released by the Oakland Athletics. He had an early-season injury and made just a handful of appearances at Triple-A Las Vegas and the Arizona Complex League. Toronto’s 30th-round pick in 2016 out of Union College made his MLB debut with the Miami Marlins in 2022.
Also continuing with 2017 Canadians, infielder Kevin Vicuña had been released by the Arizona Diamondbacks organization in April but rejoined the Snake Squad in early May. The 25-year-old Venezuelan actually played four games with the Hillsboro Hops from June 24-29 and had four hits before being promoted to Double-A Amarillo on July 1 so he missed out on a potential reunion with the C’s.
In other transactions that may or may have not been mentioned in these parts concerning former Canadians, 2014-2015 lefty Ryan Borucki is now with the Pittsburgh Pirates, 2015-2016 righty Jackson McClelland has resurfaced with the Kansas City Royals organization where he is on the Development List and 2021-2022 northpaw Thomas Ruwe has joined the Washington Nationals system where he is pitching for the High-A Wilmington Blue Rocks. The 6-foot-9 hurler signed with the Nats as a free agent on May 12.
C-Tweets
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