The Vancouver Canadians got by the Tri-City Dust Devils 3-2 at Nat Bailey Stadium on Thursday.
Devereaux Harrison got the start for Vancouver and walked Adrian Placencia to begin the game. D’Shawn Knowles hit a tapper back to the mound but Harrison, in trying to start a double play, could not grab the ball cleanly and wound up getting nobody as Knowles made it to first. Joe Stewart was denied a hit by C’s first baseman Peyton Williams who dove to his right to spear a line drive and managed to throw the ball to second to double off Placencia for a 3-6 twin-killing. Arol Vera hit into a fielder’s choice at second to end the inning.
Werner Blakely had the first hit of the game with a one-out single lined to center field in the top of the second but Harrison got Matt Coutney to hit a roller to Estiven Machado at short near the second base bag and he started an inning-ending 6-3 double play.
Harrison put together his first perfect frame in the top of the third as he struck out Myles Emmerson swinging to begin the inning and Placencia looking to end it.
Tri-City starter Michael Darrell-Hicks had a 1-2-3 bottom of the first and second but he would not retire a seventh hitter in a row as Kekai Rios ripped a home run to left field to begin the bottom of the third.
After Rios’ third homer of the year, Machado walked but was later picked off at first by Darrell-Hicks for the second out. First base coach Danny Canellas and manager Brent Lavallee voiced their displeasure about the call with base umpire Josiah Shepherd. Dasan Brown singled to center field and Garrett Spain doubled to right but Brown was cut down trying to score at the plate on a 9-4-2 play to keep it a 1-0 game.
Harrison retired the side in order in the top of the fourth featuring a Knowles strikeout. In the bottom of the frame, Williams singled to right with one out for the only hit of the entire inning.
Werner Blakeley got into scoring position with a one-out double in the top of the fifth but Harrison struck out the side by fanning Ramirez, Coutney and Emmerson with the latter on a called strike three.
The C’s got two runners on in the bottom of the fifth when Machado singled to right and Lyle Lin was hit by a pitch. Machado tagged up to go to third on a Brown fly ball to center. It was a bang-bang play at the base but Machado was ruled safe. However, Darrell-Hicks would strand the runners at the corners.
The Dust Devils tried to start a rally in the top of the sixth with back-to-back one-out singles to right field by Placencia and Knowles but Knowles was picked off by Martinez on a 9-3 play after going too far rounding first. Placencia was at third on the play but he would be stranded when Harrison struck out Stewart for the third out and his seventh K of the night.
The bottom of the sixth saw Jeff Wehler walk with two outs but he was nailed trying to steal second.
Eric Pardinho relieved Harrison for the top of the seventh and got the first two men he faced, including a strikeout of Ramirez. Blakely would reach base on an infield single to third. Wehner’s throw got away from WIlliams and Blakely was given another 90 feet. Pardinho would get out of the stanza by fanning Coutney.
Rios got a one-out base knock to right in the bottom of the seventh but he was forced out on a 3-6 fielder’s choice by Machado and that was the C’s could muster against Darrell-Hicks.
Emmerson singled to center and Steven Rivas followed with a base to right to begin the top of the eighth against Pardinho. Placencia dropped a sacrifice bunt near the third base side that was picked up by Rios and he threw to first to get the out. Knowles dropped another bunt in front of the mound. Emmerson did not attempt to score but Knowles beat the throw by Pardinho to load the bases. Pardinho would walk in the tying run as Stewart worked the count to ball four to score Emmerson. Vera then lined out to center to bring home RIvas with a sacrifice fly to give Tri-City a 2-1 lead. Lefthander Naswell Paulino would retire Ramirez on an unassisted fielder’s choice to second to strand a pair of runners.
Jared Southard replaced Darrell-Hicks to work the bottom of the eighth and plunked Brown on the hand on a 3-0 pitch. A Spain base knock to right got Brown over to third and a wild pitch allowed Brown to score the tying run. Like Harrison, Darrell-Hicks would be saddled with a no-decision after putting together an outstanding start. Spain would then come home on a Williams single to center to put the C’s ahead of 3-2.
McCarty lifted a high pop-up to first that Coutney overran and that put Williams and McCarty in scoring position but Southard would get out of the inning.
Paulino struck out Blakely for the first out of the top of the ninth and whiffed Coutney for out number two. Emmerson was able to reach first on a throwing error by Wehner at third as the throw pulled Williams off the first base bag. Pinch-hitter Casey Dana hit a sinking liner to right that was ran down by Martinez for the final out of the game.
C-Notes
The victory went to Naswell Paulino as he improved to 5-4. The Canadians collected their 65th win against 39 losses and upped their second-half record to 27-12.
Next up in the Vancouver rotation is Hunter Gregory as he is scheduled to throw the first pitch at 1:05 p.m. against Tri-City on Friday. CanadiansBaseball.com and MiLB.TV will broadcast the game with Tyler Zickel on the call.
Rafael Sánchez and Pat Gallagher are slated to start the weekend games against the Dust Devils.
C-Changes
The Vancouver Canadians have a new pitcher on the roster. Righthander Al Pesto was assigned to the C’s from Double-A New Hampshire. A free-agent signing by the Toronto Blue Jays on June 3, the Lexington, Kentucky native has seen action with the Florida Complex League and Dunedin Blue Jays in addition to the Fisher Cats. The 26-year-old pitched for Southeastern University. The 6-foot-3, 215-pound hurler will be wearing number 28 for Monty’s Mounties.
2021 Vancouver Canadians pitcher Hagen Danner is apparently going to the show. Reports say the Huntington Beach, California native is expected to join the Toronto Blue Jays for their weekend series at home against the Chicago Cubs. The 24-year-old has made appearances with Low-A Dunedin and Double-A New Hampshire but the bulk of his action has been with Triple-A Buffalo where he has struck out 35 batters against seven walks in 28-1/3 innings. He also notched a save and five holds with the Herd while posting a 3.81 earned run average.
Radar Gun Rundown
Harrison had strikeouts of 84, 95, 95, 94, 94, 95 and 97 miles per hour. Pardinho had punchouts of 84 and 86 and was up to 96. Paulino had Ks at 83 and 81 and was up to 94.
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