The Vancouver Canadians edged the Everett AquaSox 2-1 in 12 innings at Nat Bailey Stadium on Tuesday.
Everett leadoff hitter Cole Young had the game’s first hit with a single to left field on a 0-2 pitch from Vancouver starter Abdiel Mendoza. Young was then thrown out by catcher Kekai Rios and that meant Mendoza only had to deal with three hitters, ending the frame with a strikeout of Harry Ford.
Mendoza struck out Axel Sánchez and Ben Ramirez to begin the second. Cade Doughty mishandled a James Parker grounder to third and made an errant throw to first to allow the Everett designated hitter to reach base. Mendoza went on to fan Mike Salvatore, the man of many uniform numbers, to strike out the side. Salvatore wore 27 in Tuesday’s game after donning numbers 1 and 47 during the Frogs last visit to Vancouver in May.
AquaSox starter Raúl Alcantara had two straight three-up, three-down innings to begin his night but he barely kept Gabby Martinez in the park as his line drive died at the warning track in front of the left field fence where Salvatore made the catch for the third out.
That perfect frame was matched by Mendoza as he set down Everett with strikeouts of Randy Bednar and Blake Rambusch to send the game to the bottom of the third.
The C’s finally got their first baserunner when Rios drew a two-out walk but Dasan Brown grounded out to short as a strong throw by Young just got the ‘Oakville Flash’ by a step.
The top of the fourth opened with Mendoza whiffing Windish on the way to another spotless stanza.
Vancouver got its second man on base when Michael Turconi picked up a one-out walk and Doughty was hit by a pitch just above the left foot. Josh Kasevich hit one right on the screws but he lined out to center field. That allowed Turconi to tag up and go to third. Martinez grounded out to short as Young made a nice pick on the short hop for the inning-ending 6-3 play.
Ramirez led off the top of the fifth with a double to the wall in right field. but had to hold his ground when Parker hit a fly ball caught on the left field warning track. Salvatore struck out before Mendoza retired Bednar on another drive to the warning track that would have cleared the short fence in left but Martinez was there to catch the line drive to keep the AquaSox off the board.
After the C’s went down quietly in the home half of the fifth, Ryan Boyer relieved Mendoza in the top of the sxith and also had an uneventful frame.
The Canadians could not touch Alcantara again in the bottom of inning six with the Everett lefty making a gesture towards Turconi after striking him out to end another spotless frame. After getting three fly ball outs in the sixth, Boyer got three outs on terra firma to send the game to the seventh-inning stretch.
Jimmy Kingsbury was Everett’s first reliever of the night and the C’s luck on offence did not change as they were held off the board.
Vancouver’s second reliever of the night was Conor Larkin and the former Penn State hurler struck out the side by getting Parker swinging and Salvatore and Bednar looking.
Lefty Peyton Alford was next out of the Frogs bullpen and Vancouver was turned away again as Rambusch made a diving cach to rob Spain of a hit. The Frogs continued to throw leather at the C’s when Ryan McCarty was robbed of a hit by Ramirez who snared a liner near the third base line.
Larkin struck out his fourth batter in a row by getting Parker to swing and miss. Dasan Brown then used his 80-grade speed to run down a Young fly ball in center. Windish singled to left past a diving Kasevich at short before Ford, after being called a time clock violation, lined an 0-1 pitch to Doughty at third for out number three.
Jarrod Bayless was assigned the bottom of the ninth inning for Everett. Devonte Brown walked on four straight pitches with one out but he was thrown out trying to steal second by Ford after Turconi struck out swinging to send the game into overtime.
Ford was the placed runner at second when Matt Svanson was summoned from the C’s arm barn. Sánchez flew out to right field but it was not deep enough to get Ford to third. That would be crucial went Parker hit a soft liner to McCarty at first and he threw the ball to Kasevich at second to complete a 3-6 double play.
Alford worked the 10th for Everett with Turconi as the runner on second base runner but Turconi would be left 180 feet away from home.
Svanson was back for the top of the 11th and froze Parker with a strike three call for the first out and fanned Salvatore on the way to another three-up, three-down stanza.
Leon Hunter was next out of the Everett bullpen for the bottom of inning 11. Hunter balked the placed runner Martinez over to third with one out but McCartty and Rios both struck out.
Sam Ryan took the ball for Vancouver in the top of the 12th and Rambusch bunted the placed runner Bednar over to third on a 1-3 play. Bednar could not advance on a shallow fly ball to left by Young but a broken-bat single to center by Windish resulted in Bednar scoring the game’s first run. Ford was called for another time clock violation in the batter’s box but still managed to draw a walk. Ryan would strand the runners with a strikeout of Sánchez.
Estiven Machado pinch-ran for Rios as the placed runner in the bottom of the 12th. Devonte Brown finally put a notch in the hit column for Vancouver as his grounder went underneath the glove of Young at short as the ball went to left for a one-out single. Machado went to third on the play and Devonte Brown joined him in scoring position by stealing second. Turconi then lined a single up the middle to score Machado and Devonte Brown to help the C”s snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.
C-Notes
Ryan got his third win of the year to go to 3-0. That was not the only thing he picked up. He scooped up Michael Turconi’s batting helmet after it fell to the ground and decided to wear it himself during the celebration. Turconi’s hit also extended his hitting streak to nine straight games.
The C’s bump their second-half record to 18-7 and go to 56-34 overall. Everett is four games back with a second-half mark of 14-11.
The C’s and AquaSox go at it again on Wednesday with lefthander Adam Macko getting the starting assignment for Vancouver. The game is on CanadiansBaseball.com and MiLB.TV with Tyler Zickel calling the action.
Radar Gun Rundown
Mendoza had strikeouts at 93, 78, 91, 80, 79 and 85 miles per hour. Boyer checked in from 83 to 94. Larkin was at 81-94 with strikeouts at 82, 82, 93 and 93. Svanson was at 83 and struck out batters at 96, 95 and 97. Ryan had a K at 84 and was up to 95.
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