The Vancouver Canadians defeated the Hillsboro Hops 6-3 at Nat Bailey Stadium on Wednesday.
Andrew Pintar doubled off the right field wall to lead off the game against C’s starter Adam Macko. After Jack Hurley struck out, Tommy Troy drew a walk. Former North Carolina State product Gino Groover, a teammate of former C’s outfielder Devonte Brown, nearly hit one fair down the left field line. Groover would later foul out to left where Gabby Martinez ran the ball down and slammed into the wall before firing the ball back to second to double off Pintar to end the inning.
Hops starter Yilber Diaz made quick work of the C’s in the bottom of the first with two strikeouts and Macko struck out Christian Cerda to start the top of the second and fanned Gavin Conticello to end a 1-2-3 frame.
Diaz struck out three in a row before giving up a Josh Kasevich single to right with one out in the bottom of the second. Garrett Spain hit one just foul down the right field corner before flying out to left. Kasevich then got picked off at first on a 1-3-4 play for the third out.
Another perfect frame was turned in by Macko in the top of the third when Manuel Peña lined out to Cade Doughty at third. The frame ended when Pintar was caught looking at strike three.
Diaz struck out the side in the bottom of the third, hitting 100 miles per hour on the radar gun, turning in as dominant an inning by an opposing pitcher at The Nat this season.
Macko responded in the top of the fourth with punchouts of Hurley and Troy before Groover lined out to third for another spotless stanza.
Diaz got another whiff to start the bottom of the fourth before designated hitter Alex De Jesús, in his first game back since August 11, drew a walk. Doughty hit a sharp comebacker that Diaz nearly caught but he was able to pick up the ball and fire it down to second for a 1-4 fielder’s choice. The inning ended with another strikeout.
Cerda was walked by Macko to start the top of the fifth. A strikeout of Junior Franco followed before a wild pitch moved Cerda to second base. A Gavin Conticello grounder to first moved Cerda to third and another wild pitch brought the Hops catcher home for the first run of the game. Manuel Peña should have been called out on strikes when a curveball landed in the upper part of the strike zone. Macko was about to head to the dugout but home plate umpire Robert Ginther III called the 2-2 pitch a ball. Macko would walk Peña before getting out of the inning by retiring Juan Corniel on a fly ball to right.
Vancouver managed to get a runner in scoring position against Diaz in the bottom of the fifth when Spain walked with one out and got to second on a slow chopper to short by Martinez. Ryan McCarty got on base with a two-out base on balls. Jommer Hernández then took a 3-1 pitch to the warning track in center field where Pintar made a leaping catch to end the inning.
Ryan Boyer was brought to the bump as the C’s first reliever of the night for the top of the sixth. Pintar hit a grounder to McCarty who nearly lost his footing on the edge of the infield grass at second but the C’s second baseman got the throw off to first just in time to get the Hops leadoff man. Boyer fanned Hurley for the second out of an eventual spotless inning.
In the bottom of the sixth, Diaz yielded an infield single to Doughty that bounced over the head of Diaz at the mound. That was the last batter Diaz would face. Billy Corcoran took over on the hill and got Williams to ground out to second to end the inning.
Naswell Paulino entered the game in the top of the seventh and gave up an infield single tp Groover over the second base bag that McCarty could not cleanly handle. Cerda then walked before Franco lifted a pop fly to first that Peyton Williams caught. Base umpire Nelson Fraley called Cerda for baserunner interference for not getting out of WIlliams’ way on the pop-up so it was a double play. After Hops manager Ronnie Gajownik came out to argue, Conticello doubled to the right field corner on the next pitch to score Groover with the Hops second run but was thrown out going for the triple on a 9-4-5 play to end the frame, another call that drew the ire of the Hops skipper.
The C’s bats came to life in the bottom of the seventh against Corcoran. Kasevich got the ball rolling by rolling one down the left field corner for a double. Spain then walked before Martinez put a charge into one for a three-run home run to left-center field, his 12th of the year, to give Vancouver its first lead at 3-2. McCarty then banged a double off the center field wall and Dasan Brown drew a one-out walk. Doughty then visited the gap in left-center with a two-out double to plate McCarty and Brown to make it 5-2 C’s. Corcoran was pulled for Alfred Morillo who uncorked a wild pitch that allowed Doughty to get to third. Williams then walked to put runners at the corner to bring up Kasevich as the 10th Vancouver hitter to dig into the batter’s box. The former Oregon Duck kept the rally going with a hot smash up the middle that Corniel could not glove at short and that scored Doughty with run number six. Another wild pitch by Morillo hit umpire Ginther in the leg and it moved Williams and Kasevich up 90 feet but that was as far as they would go.
Paulino nearly hit Peña with a 3-0 pitch but wound up giving up a leadoff walk in the top of the eighth. A Hernández passed ball gave Peña another 90 feet. Paulino struck out Corniel for out number one but Pintar reached on an infield single to short that Kasevich could only knock down. Hurley popped to third but Troy walked to load the bases. Conor Larkin was called into the game and uncorked a wild pitch that allowed Peña to score Hillsboro’s third run. The bases were loaded again on a Groover walk but Larkin was able to strike out Cerda to stop the bleeding.
Morillo retired all three batters he faced in the bottom of the eighth, with Hernández retired on a nice running catch by Hurley in right field for the third out.
Larkin worked a clean ninth by fanning Franco for the first out and Peña for the final out of the game.
C-Notes
The winning pitcher was Naswell Paulino who is now 7-4 and the save went to Conor Larkin, his third of the year. The C’s won their 36th game of the second half against 19 losses and improved to 74-46 overall.
Everett remains on Vancouver’s tail for first place in the second half. The AquaSox won again in Spokane on Wednesday for their seventh victory in a row and are now 2-1/2 games back of the Canadians. Everett is closing in on a berth in the Northwest League final against Vancouver as its magic number is down to five after Eugene lost to Tri-City on Wednesday. At this rate, next week’s series between the Emeralds and AquaSox at Funko Field to end the regular season may be rendered meaningless by the time this week is done.
Devereaux Harrison and Kevin Miranda get the starts for Vancouver in Thursday’s doubleheader to make up for Tuesday’s rainout. Game 1 is set for 5:05 pm.. on CanadiansBaseball.com and MiLB.TV.
In news that qualifies as ‘absolutely not surprising at all’, Anderson Pilar of the Spokane Indians was the Northwest League Pitcher of the Week for August 21-27 after supplying seven innings of a nine-inning no-hitter against the C’s last week. Also of note, 2022 Canadians pitcher Nick Frasso was named the Pacific Coast League Player of the Week for pitching six shutout innings in his Triple-A debut for the Oklahoma City Dodgers.
C-Changes
Outfielder Devonte Brown has been promoted to Double-A New Hampshire. He played 83 games for the C’s and batted .240/.357/.445 with 29 extra-base hits, 14 of them home runs, to go along with 49 runs batted in and 18 stolen bases.
Catcher Lyle Lin is back on the Development List again. He had two hits and a walk during the series finale on Sunday against Spokane.
Righthander Leam Mendez has been promoted from Low-A Dunedin to Vancouver. The 23-year-old from Ciego de Avila, Cuba was a free-agent signing by the Toronto Blue Jays on May 29. He was with the New York Yankees organization after signing as a free agent in February of 2022. The 6-foot-2, 196-pound hurler pitched with the Florida Coast League Yankees and Tampa last year before being assigned to the Mesa Solar Sox of the Arizona Fall League. He was released by the Yankees organization on May 11.
Mendez made his Blue Jays organizational debut with a shutout inning for the Florida Complex League Blue Jays in which he earned a hold against the FCL Tigers on June 9. He then collected a save with the Dunedin Blue Jays with two strikeouts in a scoreless frame at Bradenton on June 11. Mendez’s first win came against Tampa by getting the final four outs without giving up a run on July 4. He logged 25 innings with a 23-16 strikeout/walk total with two saves and an earned run average of 2.88 with the D-Jays. Mendez will wear number 28 for Vancouver.
2022 C’s utility player Glenn Santiago is back with the club. He was at The Nat for 2023 Media Day but has spent the season in Dunedin. The 22-year-old from Yauco, Puerto Rico batted .249/.355/.361 in 74 games with 16 extra-base hit, 40 RBI and eight stolen bases. Santiago will wear number 1, the same number he wore last year.
Utility player Angel Del Rosario has also been promoted from Low-A Dunedin to YVR. The 20-year-old from La Romana in the Dominican Republic signed as a free agent with the Blue Jays on July 2, 2019. Del Rosario began his pro career with the Florida Complex League Blue Jays in 2021 and spent the majority of 2022 with Dunedin with a brief call-up to Double-A New Hampshire. This year with Dunedin, the 6-foot-0, 160-pound righthanded hitter slashed .280/.359/.434 with 16 extra-base hits, 29 runs batted in and 25 stolen bases in 59 games. Del Rosario will be wearing number 5.
C’s Alumni Report
A pair of 2022 Vancouver Canadians have been promoted from Double-A New Hampshire to Triple-A Buffalo. Eric Treuden of JaysJournal.com was the first to report that shortstop Leo Jiménez was promoted from Double-A New Hampshire to Triple-A Buffalo. The 24-year-old from Chitre, Panama batted .287 with a .372 on-base percentage and a .436 slugging percentage with 25 extra-base hits and 44 runs batted in. Jiménez is filling in for Ernie Clement who was called up to Toronto from the Bisons to fill in for Matt Chapman who is on the 10-day injured list with a sprained finger.
Outfielder Steward Berroa also left Manchester for Western New York. the 24-year-old from Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic slashed .272/.380/.414 with 30 extra-base hits and 43 stolen bases with the Fisher Cats. He doubled in his first Triple-A at-bat and scored Jiménez who was being hit by a pitch in the left elbow in his first at-bat. Unfortunately, Jiménez was plunked again on the left hand in his next plate appearance and was replaced by 2019 and 2021 Canadian Tanner Morris on the basepaths.
Radar Gun Rundown
Adam Macko checked in at 72-97 miles per hour with strikeouts at 80, 89, 80, 95, 80 and 77. Ryan Boyer was at 79 with a strikeout at 93. Naswell Paulino clocked in at 77-93 with a strikeout at 90. Conor Larkin had strikeouts at 80, 95 and 95.
C-Tweets
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