The Vancouver Canadians dropped a 2-1 decision against the Hillsboro Hops at Ron Tonkin Field on Sunday.
The Canadians got the first run of the game in the top of the first but that was all they would get against Hops starter Joe Elbis. The second pitch of the game was taken to center field for a single by Devonte Brown and a base hit to right by Michael Turconi that extended his on-base streak to 33 games advanced Brown to third. A throwing error by Josh Day on a ground ball to third by Alex De Jesús scored Brown. A Josh Kasevich infield single to short deflected by Elbis loaded the bases with one out but that was all the C’s could manage.
Pat Gallagher struck out the first two batters he faced in his C’s debut with Wilderd Patiño and Tommy Troy going down swinging en route to a perfect first frame. The Vancouver righthander also struck out Julio Franco in another three-up, three-down frame in the second.
Estiven Machado had a one-out base knock to right field in the top of the second and stole second base with two outs before Elbis retired the side. Vancouver had another runner in scoring position on a two-out double by Josh Kasevich but he would be stranded by Elbis.
Hillsboro got to Gallagher in the bottom of the third when Kevin Graham picked up a leadoff single to right and he scored on a Josh Day double to left to tie the game at 1-1. Day got to third when Kasevich booted a Juan Corniel ground ball at short. Patiño hit a sharp grounder to third and Day tried to score on the play by De Jesús threw him out at the plate with Kekai Rios applying the tag. Gallagher got out of the jam by getting Troy to pop up to second and David Martin to ground out to first.
Elbis finished off the C’s in order in the fourth, getting some help from Day who leaped to snare a liner to third from Rios.
The Hops would load the bases with one out on a Franco double to right, an Andrew Pintar walk and a Graham base hit up the middle. That was it for Gallagher as Ryan Boyer was brought into the game. He struck out Day and got Corniel to fly out to center to leave the bases loaded.
Devonte Brown drew a leadoff walk in the top of the fifth against Elbis but only made it as far as second on a Turconi groundout to short.
Boyer struck out Patiño to open up the bottom of the fifth but Troy hit a ground-rule double to right and stole third base. Martin then picked up a walk before Christian Cerda lifted a shallow fly ball to right. Troy tagged up but Devonte Brown made a perfect throw to the plate to cut down Troy. That was Devonte Brown’s fourth outfield assist in the past two games.
Vancouver had just one baserunner in the top of the sixth and that was a one-out walk to Williams as Elbis hung another zero in the inning.
Justin Kelly took over for Boyer and leaned on his defence heavily in the bottom of the sixth. He walked Franco but Rios threw him out trying to steal second on a. 2-4 play. Kelly would walk Pintar and gave up consecutive singles to right by Graham and Day to fill the bases. Kelly ran the count full to 3-2 but got Corniel to hit into a 4-6-3 double play to keep the game tied at 1-1.
Peñiel Otaño relieved Elbis in the top of the seventh and the C’s fortunes with the bats did not change as they went down quietly.
Devonte Brown continued to shine defensively in the bottom of the seventh when he ran down a fly ball from Patiño in foul territory in right field. Brown nearly tumbled over the wall but reached over to make the grab and hold on to help Kelly get the first out. That was the first of three men retired by Kelly as he struck out Martin to conclude the inning.
Lefthander Liam Norris took to the hill for the Hops in the top of the eighth and issued a two-out walk to Kasevich. He swiped second base but his journey would end there.
Southpaw Cooper Benson got what appeared to be a routine fly ball to right but Devonte Brown lost the ball in the sun and Cerda made it second base. However, Cerda should have been called out when he came off the second base bag on a pop-up slide and was tagged by Kasevich. However, base umpire Daniel Bytheway botched the call which brought C’s manager Brent Lavallee out to argue. Benson struck out Franco but walked Pintar. Graham then singled to center to score Cerda to put Hillsboro ahead. Kasevich then made a nice sliding stop of a ground ball at short off the bat of Day and flipped the ball to second to start a 6-4-3 inning-ending double play.
Logan Clayton gave up a two-out single to center Brown to pinch-hitter Garrett Spain and Devonte Brown reached base when Day mishandled a ball at second base. Dasan Brown drew a walk to load the bases but Clayton struck out the side to give the Hops the series split.
C-Notes
The Canadians offence resembled the Toronto Blue Jays season-long inability to hit with runners in scoring position in this three-game losing skid against the last-place Hops. The Blue Jays had no issues in the RISP department in their weekend sweep of the Boston Red Sox but the C’s certainly did in settling for the split against the Hops, going 1-for-9 with 11 men left on base.
Vancouver falls to 62-39 and 24-12 for the second half. The Canadians are back home to begin a six-game series against the Tri-City Dust Devils at Nat Bailey Stadium. Kevin Miranda is scheduled to throw the first pitch at 7:05 p.m. Former Toronto Blue Jays manager John Gibbons will be at the park to greet the fans and sign autographs. Tyler Zickel will have the call on CanadiansBaseball.com and MiLB.TV.
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