The Vancouver Canadians concluded their 2023 regular season schedule against the Tri-City Dust Devils at Gesa Stadium on Sunday.
The C’s began the series Tuesday with a 7-3 win over the Double-D’s. Adam Macko was outstanding with five no-hit innings of relief, walking two and whiffing eight. to even his record to 5-5. A Josh Kasevich double off Keythel Key drove in the game’s first run with an RBI double in the third inning. Vancouver broke it open in the seventh with five runs in the seventh with Peyton Williams singling home a run and Gabby Martinez singling home two. The Canadians won the game despite going just 3-for-18 with runners in scoring position and leaving 12 men on. Angel Del Rosario got his first hit in a Vancouver uniform with a pinch-hit single in the eighth inning and Nick Goodwin earned a pinch-hit walk in the ninth in his C’s debut.
On Wednesday, Tri-City evened the series with a 3-2 win in 10 innings. a Ryan McCarty leadoff hit and a Werner Blakely fielding error at third allowed Goodwin to reach base in the first inning. McCarty scored on a Martinez sacrifice fly and Goodwin scored on Garret Spain double off Tri-City starter Chase Chaney. That was all Chaney allowed over six shutout frames. Devereaux Harrison struck out four and gave up just one run over five innings, the lone run being a Cam Williams homer in the fifth. Sam Ryan gave up a Gustavo Campero home run to tie the game. Tri-City walked it off with a two-out single by Joe Stewart off Justin Kelly two innings later.
The Dust Devils made it two in a row on Thursday with a 4-0 victory. The C’s offence could not catch up after a Caleb Ketchup triple scored on a two-out RBI single by Alex Ramirez in the first inning against Kevin Miranda. The Vancouver starter allowed another two-out run in the second on an RBI single by Casey Dana but lasted five innings and struck out four. Goodwin got his first Northwest League hit and walked twice while McCarty and Spain had two-hit games but Vancouver went 0-for-12 with RISP with 13 men left on base.
Vancouver got back in the win column on Friday with an 8-2 triumph. They roughed up lefty C.J. Mayhue with a five-run first inning thanks to RBI doubles by Kasevich and Williams, an RBI single by Goodwin and a two-run home run by Jommer Hernández. Jeff Wehler—in his return from Double-A New Hamshire-tripled home three runs in the eighth. Hunter Gregory laboured through three innings and gave up two runs. Leam Mendez picked up his first Northwest League victory with three innings of one-hit ball, whiffing five. Lefty Ian Churchill put up two zeroes before Naswell Paulino pitched a goose egg in the ninth.
The C’s won big again on Saturday with a 9-1 decision over the Dust Devils. Ryan Jennings returned to the mound for Vancouver for the first time since late June and matched zeros with Tri-City starter Erik Rivera for the first two innings, striking out two. Monty’s Mounties broke it open in the third against lefty Will Sandy thanks to run-scoring base hits by Williams, Lyle Lin and Glenn Santiago. The C’s added three more runs in the fifth with another RBI knock by Santiago and a two-run base knock by Estiven Machado. The finishing blows were back-to-back home runs by Williams and Cade Doughty in the ninth. That was Doughty’s first game of the series, presumably due to a stomach bug going around the team. Anders Tolhurst got the win with three shutout innings to improve to 4-1. The C’s pitching staff put up a nice K/BB total of 16-1 with Cooper Benson striking out seven over three frames with an unearned run. Ryan Boyer struck out two in the ninth.
Vancouver could only get a series split as they were blanked 3-0 by Tri-City on Sunday. The game was scoreless until the seventh when Eric Pardinho walked Stewart with two outs and gave up a double by Williams. Tri-City scored two more in the eighth to salt it away. The C’s were held to two Doughty singles and a Kasevich base knock. Doughty and Wehller drew a walk apiece. Doughty was the only runner to get to second base and that was because of a balk by Julian Smith. Things got spicy in the ninth when Kasevich was called for batter interference when he collided with Dust Devils hurler Ben Thompson on the base path towards first. Kasevich lined one up the middle that Thompson deflected towards the baseline and that resulted in the collision that shook up the pitcher as Kasevich continued on to first. C’s manager Brent Lavallee argued the call and was ejected by home plate umpire Daniel Bytheway. Thompson would finish out the game for Tri-City. All of this overshadowed a Rafael Sánchez scoreless start of 4-2/3 innings for Vancouver but he was pulled after a two-out single on his 74th pitch.
C-Notes
Vancouver finishes the 2023 regular season at 77-54 and 39-27 in the second half. The C’s could have won the second-half title with a win but that honour goes to Everett instead.
Games 1 and 2 of the Northwest League Championship Series between the Canadians and AquaSox are set for Tuesday and Wednesday at 7:05 p.m. Tyler Zickel will call the action from Funko Field at CanadiansBaseball.com. It has not been made official yet but it appears Adam Macko and Devereaux Harrison will start Games 1 and 2 respectively for the C’s.
Game 3 will be in Vancouver on Friday for a 7:05 p.m. first pitch on CanadiansBaseball.com and MiLB.TV. Games 4 and 5, if necessary, are scheduled for 7:05 p.m. on Saturday and 1:05 p.m. on Sunday at Nat Bailey Stadium. The two teams split 24 contests between them in the regular season.
A belated congratulations to Canadians pitching coach Joel Bonnett and his wife Courtney on the birth of their son on August 28. Bullpen coach Austin Bibens-Dirkx has been filling in for Bonnett in Tri-City.
Also congratulations to lefty Adam Macko for winning the Northwest League Pitcher of the Week award after his five no-hit frames against Tri-City on Tuesday.
The 2024 schedule is already out for the Vancouver Canadians. The C’s will begin next year on the road for a three-game series on April 5. Their home opener will be on April 9 against Hillsboro. The Canada Day matchup is against Everett and the regular season will end at home with six games against Eugene with a September 8 finale. The busiest months at The Nat will be in June with 14 games and August with 16. Everett and Spokane will make three separate trips to YVR, playing a total of 15 games each. Eugene, Hillsboro and Tri-City will be north of the border 12 times apiece.
The Everett AquaSox also released its docket for next year this past week. Eugene, Hillsboro, Spokane and Tri-City have not made their 2024 slates public as of yet.
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