The Vancouver Canadians were defeated 2-0 and 5-4 by the Hillsboro Hops at Nat Bailey Stadium on Thursday.
C’s starter Devereaux Harrison gave up a leadoff single to left field by Andrew Pintar that deflected off the glove of third baseman Jeff Wehler. Jack Hurley then singled to center over a leaping Estiven Machado at second base. Tommy Troy struck out swinging before Pintar and Hurley executed a double steal. Gino Groover fouled out to first and Harrison got out of the inning by striking out Christian Cerda.
Hops starter Ricardo Yan also gave up a leadoff single when Josh Kasevich sent one back up the middle but that was it for the bottom of the first.
The C’s got another base knock to start the bottom of the second when Gabby Martinez sliced a single to right field. Wehler then walked but Yan struck out the next two hitters. A wild pitch by Yan moved the runners up but the Hops hurler struck out the side, all looking.
Pintar got his second hit of the game with a base hit to center with one out in the top of the third inning. Harrison rebounded by fanning Hurley and Troy to hang another zero on the line score.
Yan also had a perfect bottom of the third with Troy twisting and turning before catching a flare in shallow left to take away a hit from Peyton Williams for out number three.
The Hops got an extra out in the top of the fourth and made the C’s pay for it. Cerda drew a one-out walk in the top of the fourth before Harrison whiffed Junior Franco for the second out. Kevin Graham got aboard on a Wehler fielding error at third and that allowed Gavin Conticello to step up to the dish and hit a two-out double that short-hopped the right field wall to put the Hops ahead 2-0.
Yan turned the C’s away again with another spotless inning, as Wehler was thrown out at third by Groover who ranged towards the third base line before firing a seed to first to end the frame.
Pintar got on base again by taking one for the team to start the top of the fifth. C’s backstop Jommer Hernández was able to throw out Pintar trying to steal second for a 2-6 putout. Harrison struck out Hurley before he was pulled from the game in favour of lefty Cooper Benson. Troy blooped a two-out single to right but Benson got Groover to hit into a 6-4 fielder’s choice.
Yan walked Machado to open the bottom of the fifth and he swiped second with two outs. Kasevich also walked and that was it for Yan. Listher Sosa entered the game for the Hops and he walked Garrett Spain to load the bases. Williams then lined out to right to leave the bags full.
Benson struck out Franco for the second out in what turned out to be a perfect top of the sixth for the former Arizona State Sun Devil.
Sosa was back out for the bottom of the sixth. Martinez reached on an infield single to short when Conticello could not hang on to the ball at first. Wehler gave one a ride to the warning track in right for the second out. Machado extended the inning with a two-out double to right-center to send Martinez to third. Angel Del Rosario grounded out to third to end the inning.
Juan Corniel had a one-out single to left and moved to second when Benson made an errant pickoff throw. A Pintar ground ball to second got Corniel over to third but Hurley softly lined out to third for the third out.
Sosa mowed down the C’s in order to give Hillsboro the Game 1 victory.
In game two, Canadians starter Kevin Miranda struck out Andrew Pintar on three pitches to begin the ball game. Jack Hurley then doubled to left-center and tagged up to go to third on a Tommy Troy fly ball to right. Garrett Spain nearly threw out Hurley as Alex De Jesús made a swipe tag that just missed the Hops center fielder who went in standing up. Miranda would strand Hurley by getting Christian Cerda to ground out to short.
Vancouver native Eli Saul got the start for Hillsboro and gave up a single to center field by Oakville, Ontario’s Dasan Brown. Saul would face the minimum when he snared a comebacker off the bat of Cade Doughty to start a 1-4-3 inning-ending double play.
Miranda struck out Gavin Conticello for the second out before Kevin Graham reached on an infield single to second. Manuel Peña drove one deep to the warning track in center field before Brown flagged it down for the third out.
Josh Kasevich nearly got on base to begin the bottom of the second inning. He hit a grounder to Troy and the shortstop’s throw pulled Conticello off the first base bag but base umpire Nelson Fraley ruled Conticello kept his foot on the bag long enough for the out. Gabby Martinez singled up the middle with one out and Ryan McCarty and Kekai Rios walked with two outs to load the bases. The Canadians finally scored first in the homestand when Glenn Santiago cleared the bases with a double down the right field line and went to third on the throw to the plate to make it 3-0 Vancouver.
The lead did not last. Oyen, Alberta native Gavin Logan was able to work a leadoff walk against Miranda in the top of the third inning and Pintar followed with a single to center. Miranda struck out Hurley and had a line on a pop fly in foul territory by Troy on the first base side but gave way to Santiago who made a diving catch to record the out. The Hops kept the inning going when Cerda singled to center and Jesus Valdez took Miranda deep for a three-run home run into the C’s left field bullpen to put the Hops in front 4-3. Conticello then got a double when his sharp grounder caromed off the first base bag. The inning ended when Martinez ran down a foul ball in left field off the bat of Graham.
Gunnar Groen struck out the first two men he faced in the bottom of the third. He completed the perfect frame when Kasevich fouled out to first as Conticello reached over into the Hops dugout to make the catch.
Justin Kelly relieved Miranda in the top of the fourth inning and gave up a one-out double to the right field corner by Logan. A fielding error by De Jesús at third allowed Pintar to reach base. Hurley struck out but Troy singled to left to score Logan to increase the Hops lead to 5-3. Troy was replaced by pinch-runner Juan Corniel, who remained in the game at short.
The C’s loaded the bases with a pair of one-out singles to right by De Jesús and Ryan McCarty and a two-out walk by Santiago but Groen escaped the bottom of the fourth when Brown grounded out to third.
Kelly retired the side in order in the top of the fifth to send the game to the bottom of the fifth. Lefty Armando Vasquez was the new Hops reliever and he surrendered a one-out home run to left by Doughty to make it a 5-4 game. Kasevich then singled to center but was erased on an inning-ending double play by Martinez.
Lefty Ian Churchill was the third C’s pitcher of the night. He began the top of the sixth by covering first base on a 3-1 putout to retire Peña. He ended the 1-2-3 frame with a strikeout of Pintar.
Vasquez retired the first two hitters in the bottom of the sixth before being relieved by Peñiel Otaño. He struck out Kekai Rios for the third out.
Churchill gave up a single to left by Corniel and walked Cerda with one out before Valdez hit into a 6-4-3 double play, completed by a nice dig at first by Santiago.
Spain was hit by an Otaño pitch with two outs in the bottom of the seventh but Doughty hit into a game-ending 6-4 fielder’s choice.
C-Notes
Vancouver’s record is now 36-21 in the second half and the C’s are now just 1-1/2 games ahead of Everett for first place. The AquaSox game in Spokane was rained out and the two teams will play a doubleheader on Saturday.
The C’s play their final Friday Nooner at the Nat of 2023 against the Hops in a 1:05 p.m. start against Hillsboro. Hunter Gregory is slated to be the slope for Monty’s Mounties. Rafael Sánchez is listed as the probable starter for Saturday and Anders Tolhurst will get the ball on Sunday.
Radar Gun Rundown
Devereaux Harrison was at 78-97 miles per hour with strikeouts at 96, 83, 86, 87, 89 and 80. Cooper Benson was at 77, 93, 92K. Kevin Miranda was at 79-93 miles per hour with strikeouts at 82, 90 and 81.
C-Tweets
Discover more from C's Plus Baseball | A Vancouver Canadians Blog
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
C's Plus Baseball | A Vancouver Canadians Blog 