C’s Recap – Double Trouble for Canadians in Series Finale Loss to Hops

The Vancouver Canadians lost 7-1 to the Hillsboro Hops at Ron Tonkin Field on Sunday.

The C’s got the game’s first run in the top of the first but were poised to do so much more against Hops starter Listher Sosa. The bases were loaded with nobody when Alan Roden singled to center field, Dasan Brown singled to right and stole second and Michael Turconi drew a walk. A sacrifice fly to center by Alex De Jesús brought Roden home but Cade Doughty grounded into an inning-ending 4-3 double play.

That lead only lasted two batters long when Josh Day evened things for Hillsboro when he took C’s starter Devereaux Harrison deep to left field for a one-out home run to tie the game at 1-1.

Garrett Spain picked up a one-out base on balls in the top of the second inning but he was doubled off at first. Devonte Brown was robbed of a hit when S.P. Chen made a leaping catch against the right field fence and threw the ball back to first for the 9-3 double play. The game remained scoreless after two when Harrison retired the Hops in order in the bottom of the second as he struck out Garry Mattis Jr. for out number three.

The C’s got their first two men aboard in the top of the third when a throwing error by Sosa allowed Kekai Rios to reach base after a slow tapper back to the mound. The throw actually hit Rios in the back. Roden then singled to right and went to second on a throw on Chen’s throw to third, giving Vancouver two men in scoring position. However, they ran themselves out of the inning when Ivan Melendez made a diving stop at third on a Dasan Brown ground ball. Melendez threw the ball to home to get Rios at the plate. Catcher J.J. D’Orazio then threw the ball to Shane Muntz at first as Brown got caught in a rundown and was tagged out by Day at second base for a 5-2-3-4 double play. Roden wound up at third but Turconi flew out to right for the third out.

The Hops would begin the home half of the third with an infield single to third by Muntz before Harrison got the next two hitters, striking out Day for the second out. Harrison got ahead of Jesús Valdez 0-2 but would walk him. The former Long Beach State hurler was upset with the ball four call from home plate umpire Cas Cousins. Things began to fall apart from there. A check swing call against Melendez went the Hops way as Melendez clearly went around but Cousins and base umpire Shin Koishizawa were both asleep on the play. The zinger from Chicago Cubs manager David Ross toward home plate umpire Alex MacKay at Yankee Stadium on Sunday applied here. The next pitch was taken out of the yard when Melendez went deep to left to put Hillsboro ahead 4-1. D’Orazio also dialled long distance to left to put Hillsboro up by four. The Hops threatened to add at least one more when Junior Franco walked, stole second and got to third on a Rios throwing error but Harrison retired Kevin Graham on a fly ball to center.

The C’s once again got their first couple of men on base in the top of the fourth when De Jesús was hit in the left elbow by a Sosa pitch and Doughty singled to right. Another double play ball took them out of the inning when Gabby Martinez hit into a 6-4-3 twin-killing. De Jesús was left at third when Spain flew out to left.

The Hops were turned away by Harrison in the fourth after a two-out walk to Muntz who moved up to second on a wild pitch. Strikeouts of Mattis and Day sent the game to the fifth.

Peñiel Otaño came out of the Hillsboro bullpen and got the first two hitters out before plunking Roden on the right elbow. Dasan Brown drew a walk but Turconi hit into a 4-6- fielder’s choice.

Vancouver also went to the bullpen as Justin Kelly entered the game but he was betrayed by his defence. A De Jesús fielding error at short allowed Valdez to get to first. Kelly struck out Melendez but a D’Orazio single to right and a throwing error by Spain put two men in scoring range. Kelly fanned Franco and was ahead of Graham at 0-2 before giving up a single to center that scored Valdez and D’Orazio to give Hillsboro a six-run cushion.

It was six-up, six-down in inning number six when Otaño got the first two men out before lefty Dillon Larsen finished the top of the frame for Hillsboro. Anders Tolhurst struck out Muntz to begin a perfect bottom of the sixth for Vancouver.

The seventh inning featured a walk in each half. Devonte Brown’s one-out free pass did not go any further in the top half and Hunter Gregory made sure a two-out free pass to D’Orazio would not amount to anything as he struck out Valdez, Melendez and Franco in the bottom half.

The C’s had another inning in which the first two hitters reached base as Dasan Brown and Turconi opened the top of the eighth with back-to-back bases on balls. They would be stranded by Larsen.

Gregory took care of the Hops with a perfect bottom of the eighth that began with a called strike three to Graham.

Logan Clayton was brought in to pitch the top of the ninth for Hillsboro. Spain singled to right to lead things off but the game fittingly ended on, you guessed it, another double play ball as Rios hit into a 5-4-3 DP.

C-Notes

The Canadians record is now 15 wins and 10 losses in the second half and they hold a two-game lead over Everett and Spokane and a three-game lead on Eugene. After 80 games, the C’s sport a record of 48-32.

The Emeralds will be in Vancouver on Friday to begin a three-game series at Nat Bailey Stadium. The Friday and Saturday games begin at 7:05 p.m. and Sunday’s finale is set for 1:05 p.m. The games will be on CanadiansBaseball.com and MiLB.TV.

C-Changes

Lefthander Naswell Paulino is heading back to Vancouver according to the transactions page at CanadiansBaseball.com. He made his Double-A debut with the New Hampshire Fisher Cats in Hartford and gave up three runs in two innings on Sunday. Paulino had just been promoted to New Hampshire FC on Saturday.

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The MLB Draft is halfway done with the Toronto Blue Jays selecting three players from the high school ranks and six players from college.

Florida high school shortstop Arjun Nimmala was Toronto’s first round pick but he is just 17 years old and he won’t be in Vancouver anytime soon. The other high schoolers are Florida high school righthander Landon Maroudis and outfielder Sam Shaw from Lambrick Park Secondary School in Saanich, BC. The Jays will have to convince those three to turn down college commitments to Florida State, North Carolina State and Xavier respectively.

The Jays third-round pick was righthander Jauron Watts-Brown, a college teammate of 2022-2023 C’s righthander Devereaux Harrison. Watts-Brown was at Long Beach State in 2022 before transferring to Oklahoma State. He might be in Vancouver at some point before the year is out but with 82-1/3 innings under his belt, he would only pitch sparingly.

In rounds five and six, the Jays went to the college ranks by selecting lefthander Connor O’Halloran out of Michigan and outfielder Jace Bohrofen from Arkansas. O’Halloran hails from Mississauga, Ontario and is the son of former Florida Marlins catcher Greg O’Halloran, who was drafted by Toronto in 1988. Connor was the Big 10 Pitcher of the Year, two years after 2022-2023 C’s lefty Trenton Wallace won the honour when he was with the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Rounds seven and eight were also college picks as Toronto took Kansas State shortstop Nick Goodwin and West Virginia outfielder Braden Berry. 2012-2014 Canadians catcher Dan Klein was the last Wildcat taken by Toronto when he was the Jays 28th round pick in 2012. Berry shares the same alma mater as C’s 2019 righthander and current Blue Jay Alex Manoah and 2014 first baseman Ryan McBroom.

The Jays 10th round pick was righthander Josh Mollerus from the Oregon Ducks, the same place where fellow Josh, 2023 C’s shortstop Josh Kasevich attended. However, the two were not college teammates as Mollerus transferred to Eugene this past season from the University of San Francisco.

The Blue Jays are expected to hold another two-week camp for their 2023 draftees later this summer before giving the players their first pro assignments. There is a good chance we will see quite a few of the collegians in a C’s uniform at some point this year. The draft wraps up with rounds 11-20 on Tuesday.