The Vancouver Canadians blanked the Hillsboro Hops 8-0 at Ron Tonkin Field on Wednesday.
Dylan Ray got the starting assignment for Hillsboro and worked around a one-out walk to Dasan Brown, ending the inning with a Michael Turconi fly ball to left. That would be the only time the former Wake Forest Demon Deacon would make an out.
Lefthander Adam Macko got the start for Vancouver and he only needed eight pitches in completing a perfect bottom of the first.
Ray walked Josh Kasevich to lead off the top of the second and after a stolen base, Ryan McCarty earned a one-out free pass but the Hops righthander would go on to strike out the side.
Christian Cerda was the first Hillsboro baserunner with a leadoff walk in the bottom of the second but Macko got a 6-4-3 double play from Junior Franco before striking out David Martin to end the frame.
Dasan Brown drew his second one-out free pass of the game in the top of the third inning but Cerda threw him out trying to steal second on a 2-4- putout, helping Ray face just a trio of batters.
The first Hops hit was a leadoff single by Manuel Peña to center field in the bottom of inning number three as he lined a ball over the head of a leaping Kasevich at short. Macko erased that by picking off Peña on a 1-3-6 play. Josh Day walked but Macko would whiff Jean Walters and Wilderd Patiño to keep the game knotted up at 0-0.
The C’s broke through against Ray in the top of the fourth when Turconi led off with a home run to right-center field.
That was Turconi’s seventh big fly of the year. Peyton Williams lined a singled up the middle past a diving Tommy Troy at short but Williams was forced out at second after Andrew Pintar knocked down a grounder at second by McCarty that went off Ray’s right hand and managed to flip the ball to Troy for the 4-6 fielder’s choice. McCarty in turn was forced out on a 6-4 play off the bat of Jeff Wehner to end the inning.
Macko’s only blemish in the bottom of the fourth was a two-out infield single by Cerda back to the mound. The lefty tried to grab the ball behind him but lost his glove in the process.
In the top of the fifth, a single to center by Devonte Brown and an infield knock to third by Dasan Brown chased Ray from the game. Zach Barnes came in from the Hops arm barn and he surrendered a double to the left field corner by Alex De Jesús—freshly activated off the injured list—to score both Devonte and Dasan to give the C’s a 3-0 lead. De Jesús would score on a Turconi triple to the left-center field gap. Kasevich drew. a walk before Barnes got Williams and McCarty to fly out to right with the former’s fly ball not deep enough to score Turconi from third.
The Hops tried to get a two-out rally going on the heels of a Peña strikeout by Macko as Day walked before Walters got a base hit up the middle. A throwing error by Dasan Brown in center skipped away from McCarty at third base and that allowed Day to reach third but Macko got Patiño to ground out to McCarty to end the rally.
Vancouver went back to work on offence in the top of the sixth when Wehler walked, went to second on a Barnes wild pitch and moved to third on a Jommer Hernández single to left just beyond a diving Troy at short. Devonte Brown hit a ball that also eluded a diving Troy to left to bring in Wehler for the C’s fifth run. Dasan Brown then chopped one to Troy to short who made the flip to second to force out Devonte Brown but Pintar’s throw went into the Hillsboro first base dugout to allow Hernández to cross the plate with Vancouver’s sixth run. Dasan Brown was caught stealing third and that effectively ended the C’s uprising.
Ryan Boyer replaced Macko and got the first two men he faced with Troy striking out for out number two. A Cerda walk, a Franco hit by pitch to his right foot and a Martin infield single to second that Turconi could only knock down loaded the bases before Boyer struck out Peña to turn away the Hops.
Vancouver, BC native Eli Saul entered the game for Hillsboro in the bottom of the seventh as he gave up a Turconi double down the left field line. Turconi got to third on a Kasevich single to right and would score on a 4-6-3 double play ball from Williams to make it 7-0 for Monty’s Mounties. Walks by McCarty and Wehler forced Saul out of the game in favour of Logan Clayton who needed one pitch to get the final out of the frame.
Boyer struck out Day and Walter to begin the bottom of the seventh before plunking Patiño in the ribs but Patiño would be stranded.
Clayton got the first two men he faced before De Jesús extended the top of the eighth with a walk but De Jesús had to hit the deck on ball four with the ball dangerously close to plunking him in the head. De Jesus—who hit for the cycle the last time the Canadians were in Hillsboro—set up Turconi to make some history of his own and he did just that by drilling a single to center field for his fourth night of the night to join De Jesús in the C’s cycle club.
The C’s turned to Naswell Paulino to pitch the bottom of the eighth inning and the lefty walked Troy before getting the next two hitters out. It looked like he would get a third straight Hop when Dasan Brown tried to make a sliding catch on a fly ball to center by Martin but he could not hold on the ball. A Peńa walk loaded the bases but Paulino struck out Day looking to hang another zero on the linescore.
The C’s offence was not ready to call it a night yet. In the top of the night, Williams singled past a diving Day at third with an opposite-field knock to left and Wehler was credited with a base hit to right. Walters had trouble picking up as he stopped momentarily before getting a glove on the ball but he could not hold one. Devonte Brown then delivered a two-out double down the left field line to drive in Williams for Vancouver’s eighth run.
Reigning Northwest League Pitcher of the Week Conor Larkin was brought in for the bottom of the ninth and he punctuated a perfect stanza by striking out Patiño and Pintar.
C-Notes
Adam Macko evens his record to 4-4 and that improved Vancouver’s overall record to 61-36 and its second-half record to 23-9. Everett is six games back and Eugene and Tri-City are eight off the pace.
Michael Turconi’s cycle helped him extend his hitting streak to 15 games and his on-base streak to 29.
My apologies to Conor Larkin for not pointing out in Tuesday’s C-Notes that he won the Northwest League Pitcher of the Week honours for July 24-30. That is an especially egregious error as Larkin is a fellow Irishman whose mother was born on the Emerald Isle. The former Penn State Nittany Lion allowed just one hit and one walk over five innings and struck out 10 in three relief appearances overall.
Devereaux Harrison will be on the hill for Vancouver for the third game of the series on Thursday. The game begins at 1:05 p.m. (not 7:05 p.m. as previously stated) and will be carried on CanadiansBaseball.com with Tyler Zickel calling the action. The game can also be seen on MiLB.TV.
The C’s have named Hunter Gregory and Rafael Sánchez as the probable starters for Friday and Saturday. Newcomer Pat Gallagher will probably make his debut for the C’s on Sunday after making his last start for Dunedin last Sunday. He will be wearing number 29.
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