The Vancouver Canadians whitewashed the Everett AquaSox 7-0 at Nat Bailey Stadium on Wednesday.
C’s starter Adam Macko fanned Cole Young to begin the ball game. The lefty then issued a walk to Hogan Windish before throwing four more wide ones to Harry Ford. The inning ended when Axel Sánchez hit a soft pop-up back to Macko on the mound and he doubled off Ford at first for the 1-3 inning-ending double play.
Everett opener Jordan Jackson saw Michael Turconi reach base when James Parker booted a ball at first with one out but that was the only baserunner in the bottom of the first.
Macko set down the Frogs in order in the second with inning-ending punchouts of James Parker and Colin Davis.
Everett then elected to go with Nick Davila to work the bottom of the second stanza. He handed out a leadoff walk to Garrett Spain before Josh Kasevich homered to left field in the C’s bullpen.
The 338-foot poke, his second of the year, gave Vancouver a 2-0 lead. Jommer Hernández got to second when a throw by Ben Ramirez at third was airmailed to first out of play with two outs but the C’s backstop would be left there.
Turconi made a nice play at second by ranging to his right and making a nice pick of a ground ball by Erik Stock for the first out of the top of the third. Macko then whiffed Blake Rambusch and got Young to weakly roll out to first.
The bottom of the third saw Turconi rip a single up the middle to start things off and he would trot home when Gabby Martinez drilled a two-run shot to left off Davila to double the C’s lead to 4-0.
After Macko struck out Windish to start the top of the fourth, Ford and Sánchez singled to right and left respectively with one out for Everett’s first two hits. A pair of fly ball outs to center by Sánchez and Ramirez got Macko out of the frame.
Ryan McCarty led off the home half of the fourth with his first hit on Canadian soil with a single to left. McCarty stole second after Davila struck out Estiven Machado. A walk to Hernández followed but Devonte Brown hit int a 6-4-3 double play.
Hunter Gregory was first up out of the Vancouver bullpen but encountered some trouble when Machado’s throw at short on a Windish ground ball led to McCarty having to jump at first to keep the ball from getting away from him. Ford then got on base with a walk before Sánchez lined out to right and Ramirez flew out to the nine-spot for the first two outs. Parker then grounded to third for the third out.
Colin Davis went down swinging against Macko for the first out of the inning. Rambusch was able to get aboard with a two-out walk but Young was called out on strikes but Hernandez was taking no chances as Rambusch took off for second. His throw sailed into center field and Brown’s throw from center was off the mark at third but it did not matter. If anything, it was a chance to flush some bad defence out of the system.
The C’s offence struck again against Davila in the home half of inning five. Cade Doughty singled to left with one out and he would score on Martinez’s second homer of the game to left, his eighth round-tripper of 2023., to up the Vancouver advantage to six.
Kelvin Nuñez took the ball for Everett in the bottom of the sixth. Hernández beat out an infield roller to short with two outs by busting a move down the first base line. Hernández was caught straying too far off base after Ford blocked a pitch in the dirt and was tagged out on a rundown that went 2-4-3 on the scorecard.
Gregory came back out of the seventh and struck out Stock in the midst of a perfect inning. Tim Elliott took to the hill for the Frogs after the stretch and also had a 1-2-3 frame.
Lefthander Cooper Benson struck out Young to start the top of the eighth. Ford dunked a two-out single to right and advanced 90 feet on a wild pitch. Ramirez and Parker drew back-to-back walks to load the bases. After a 30-plus pitch inning, Benson struck out Parker swinging get out of that pickle.
Martinez got an infield single to short against new AquaSox hurler Matt Willrodt and went to second after Young’s throwing error at short. Spain then heard ball four and he and Martinez got another 90 feet closer after a Willrodt balk. McCarty drove a 3-2 pitch to center field for a sacrifice fly to score Martinez with the C’s seventh run.
Southpaw Ian Churchill was summoned to throw the top of the ninth for the C’s and struggled with his control. He walked Davis, Stock and Rambusch to fill the bags with nobody out. Young went down swinging and so did Windish. Devonte Brown then ran down a sinking liner from Ford in right to preserve the shutout.
C-Notes
Macko boosted his record to 3-4 at the expense of his former team. Vancouver’s record is now 57-34 with a second-half mark of 19 wins and seven losses. Everett is five games back of the C’s at 14-12 and Eugene is six games off the pace after evening its record to 13-13.
The series between the C’s and Frogs continues Thursday night at 7:05 p.m. Tyler Zickel will call the action, including Devereaux Harrison’s first pitch at 7:05 p,.m., on CanadiansBaseball.com and MiLB.TV.
C-Changes
The Canadians announced a roster addition prior to Wednesday’s game. Infielder Jeff Wehler was called up from Low-A Dunedin after slashing .348/.435/.630 with 15 extra-base hits, 25 runs batted in and 11 stolen bases in 27 games with the D-Jays. The 24-year-old was signed by Toronto as a free agent from the Staten Island FerryHawks of the independent Atlantic League. The 6-foot-0, 195-pound righthanded hitter played for Youngstown State University for four years before joining the University of Pittsburgh. Wehler (pronounced Whaler, like Hartford Whaler) is from St. Marys, Pennsylvania. He will wear number 32 for Monty’s Mounties.
Infielder Alex De Jesús was placed on the seven-day injured list retroactively to Tuesday, July 25. He did not play in Sunday’s series finale in Spokane or Tuesday night’s series opener against Everett.
Radar Gun Rundown
Macko was at 74 miles per hour and had strikeouts of 95, 79, 84, 78 and 79. Gregory was around 82-94 with a strikeout of 92. Benson had Ks of 79 and 89 and was up to 92. Churchill was around 82-93 with a strikeout of 92
C-Tweets
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