C’s Recap – Gregory’s Solid Start Goes for Naught as Logan Lowers Boom in the 10th to Give Hops Third Straight Win Over Canadians – C's Plus Baseball

The Vancouver Canadians lost 4-3 to the Hillsboro Hops in 10 innings at Nat Bailey Stadium on Friday.

C’s starter Hunter Gregory gave up a one-out double to right field to Kevin Graham in the top of the first inning. He would remain there as Gregory got the next two hitters, getting Gino Groover to ground out to short to end the frame.

Dasan Brown was hit by a pitch from Hops starter José Cabrera to begin the bottom of the first. A wild pitch and a Garrett Spain groundout to second moved Brown to third base but the Oakville, Ontario native would not make it home as Cade Doughty struck out and Peyton Williams grounded out to short.

The top of the second went by without incident for Gregory as he struck out Jesus Valdez and Manuel Peña to punctuate a perfect frame.

Cabrera rallied from a 3-0 deficit to strike out Gabby Martinez. Glenn Santiago got a base on balls with two away but Cabrera fanned Estiven Machado to shut down the C’s.

The top of the third began with Gregory striking out Oyen, Alberta native Gavin Logan swinging and Juan Corniel looking. Jack Hurley singled to right with two outs but Williams speared a sharp ground ball by ranging to his right to start a 3-1 putout. In response, Cabrera had a three-up, three-down inning with two punchouts to end the bottom of the third.

Gavin Conticello opened the top of the fourth with a base knock to right field. Groover lined one to left field that Santiago made a nice running catch just in front of the short fence. That was the first of three straight outs recorded by Gregory.

Martinez had a two-out walk in the bottom of the fourth but he was only the Vancouver batter to reach base against Cabrera.

Gregory kept the game scoreless with a perfect top of the fifth. The only baserunner in the bottom of the fifth was Kekai Rios drawing a two-out walk but Cabrera got Brown looking for strike three.

In the top of the sixth, Hurley got to C’s reliever Eric Pardinho for a leadoff single to right and promptly stole second base. A ground ball to second by Graham advanced Hurley to third. Conticello then hit a grounder to second with the infield drawn in and McCarty made a throw to the plate right on the money to Rios to tag Hurley out at the plate. Groover then flew out to center to finish the stanza.

Zach Barnes replaced Cabrera for the bottom of the sixth and gave up the first Vancouver hit as Doughty flared a single with one out to left just over a leaping Corniel at short. Corniel landed hard on his backside but remained in the game after being shaken up. Doughty would be forced out on a Williams 6-4-3 double play.

After Sam Ryan had a spotless top of the seventh, fanning Valdez and Peña, the C’s got on the scoreboard first in the home half of the frame. Barnes gave up a first-pitch single to right by Martinez and one out later, Santiago belted a two-run homer to the seating area of the left field bullpen to give the C’s a 2-0 lead.

Ryan was back out for the top of the eighth and the Hops would tie it. Santiago was unable to make a diving catch in left and that allowed Corniel to get aboard with a one-out base hit. Hurley then belted a two-run homer into the left field porch to tie the game at 2-2. Graham hit a fly ball that landed just foul down the third base line. He eventually flew out to left and Conticello grounded out to second to end the inning.

Zane Russell was on the hill for Hillsboro in the bottom of the eighth and retired Brown on a foul bunt to Logan behind the plate. That was the beginning of a 1-2-3 inning to push the game to the top of the ninth.

Ryan put up a zero on the line score with a three-up, three-down frame that included a punchout of Franco. Russell returned for the bottom of the ninth and his string of five hitters retired in a row was snapped at five when McCarty picked up a two-out walk but a Santiago fly ball to center forced the game into overtime.

With Conor Larkin on the mound, the Hops placed runner at second was Valdez and he was bunted over to third as Doughty had to make a barehand play to retire Peña. Logan then blasted a two-run homer over the right field wall to give the Hops a 4-2 lead. Corniel then doubled down the right field as the ball went into the Hops bullpen. A fly ball to center by Hurley advanced Corniel to third base before Larkin struck Graham out.

Santiago started the bottom of the 10th at second base with new Hops reliever Alfred Morillo on the bump. Rios drew a one-out walk and was replaced by pinch-runner Angel Del Rosario. A base hit to right by Brown scored Santiago and sent Del Rosario to third. Spain struck out before Brown was able to steal second. Doughty walked to load the bases but Williams left them loaded by bouncing out to second.

C-Notes

The Canadians are now 36-22 in the second half and are 74-49 for the season. The Everett AquaSox surprisingly lost a game as their seven-game winning streak was snapped in Spokane. They remain 1-1/2 games behind Vancouver for first place in the second half. The AquaSox magic number to clinch a playoff berth is five with any combination of Everett wins and Eugene losses adding up to five will set up a Canadians-AquaSox matchup in the Northwest League final. The number could theoretically be four as Everett has the advantage in the head-to-head matchup with Eugene with a 13-7 mark. The Frogs have a doubleheader today in Spokane while the Emeralds—who had a walk-off win Friday—continue their series in Tri-City. The Jolly Green Giants hope to keep their playoff hopes alive for Labour Day Monday when they visit Everett for a six-game set to end the regular season.

Rafael Sánchez makes his final regular season home start for Vancouver. The game is on CanadiansBaseball.com and MiLB.TV for a 7:05 p.m. start. Anders Tolhurst gets the ball for the series finale against Hillsboro on Sunday.

C-Changes

The Vancouver Canadians roster takes another hit in the latest round of call-ups throughout the Toronto Blue Jays system. According to the transactions page on CanadiansBaseball.com, infielders Jeff Wehler and Abiezel Ramirez have been promoted to Double-A New Hampshire. If that was not enough, 2021 C’s righthander C.J. Van Eyk is going to Manchester as well despite being listed as being on a rehab assignment with Vancouver all season long but he will not be appearing at Nat Bailey Stadium. He is also going to Double-A New Hampshire.

Nobody from Low-A Dunedin has been assigned to Vancouver yet. One would think catcher Lyle Lin will be reactivated from the Development List but trying to make sense of what the tall foreheads of the Blue Jays minor league system are thinking is a pointless exercise.

C’s Alumni Report

2019 and 2021 Canadian Spencer Horwitz is back with the Blue Jays as a September call-up and Surrey, B.C. native Damiano Palmegiani (2022) has been promoted from New Hampshire to Triple-A Buffalo. Righthander Gabriel Ponce (2019, 2021-2022) is also back in Buffalo from the Fisher Cats and lefty Jimmy Burnette (2022) is off the injured list and returns to the Herd.

Radar Gun Rundown

Hunter Gregory was at 82-94 miles per hour with strikeouts at 82, 93, 93 and 82. Eric Pardinho was at 84-93. Sam Ryan was at 84,-93 had strikeouts of 86, 89 and 85. Conor Larkin was at 82-98 with a strikeout of 95.