C’s Recap – 2023 Vancouver Canadians Season in Review (Championship Edition, 2nd Half)

Welcome to Part Two of the 2023 Vancouver Canadians Season in Review at C’s Plus Baseball.

The C’s began the second half by finishing up the final three games of their six-game set in Eugene with the Emeralds taking two out of three. The club also said goodbye to catcher Andrés Sosa who was summoned to Double-A New Hampshire while catcher Kekai Rios was reassigned to Vancouver from New Hampshire FC. Pitcher Ryan Jennings and shortstop Josh Kasevich were placed on the injured list in the late part of June. Kasevich had pulled up lame running the bases in the series finale on June 26.

The C’s returned home to finish off the month of June and they finished it in style against the Spokane Indians. Michael Dominguez outdueled Spokane starter Connor Van Scoyoc as the C’s escaped with a one-run victory in the June 28 series opener. It was another pitching duel the following night between Kevin Miranda and Carson Palmquist who traded zeros for five and six innings respectively, with Palmquist striking out 10. Spokane had the game’s lone run until the ninth when Rios came through with a game-tying RBI single. Spokane scored twice in the top of the 10th to take a 3-1 lead but Monty’s Mounties rallied against two relievers in the ninth with Alex De Jesús doubling home the winning run for another walk-off triumph. After racking up 12 runs for a runaway victory the next night, the Canadians ended June by putting in some overtime. Rafael Sánchez and Jarrod Cande locked horns by yielding just one run over five and 6-2/3 innings respectively. Spokane took the lead twice in extra innings with the C’s responding each time. Estiven Machado singled in the tying run in the 10th before base knocks by Michael Turconi and Cade Doughty in the 11th produced yet another walk-off victory. The club finished June with 18 wins in 26 tries. Devereaux Harrison was named the Northwest League Pitcher of the Month for June.

The winning continued on Canada Day as the C’s won on July 1 for the first time since 2016, also against Spokane. Dahian Santos got the win that day with just one unearned run over five frames but a forearm injury would make that start his last appearance of the year.

After winning the first five games of the series, Spokane salvaged the finale the next day. The C’s would get pitching reinforcements with the return of Hunter Gregory and Anders Tolhurst from the injured list. Vancouver got back in the win column in their series opener at Hillsboro with De Jesús hitting for the cycle on the Fourth of July. The Canadians would take four of six at Ron Tonkin Field with Lyle Lin haunting his former mates with a go-ahead solo home run in the top of the ninth for the series-clinching win on July 8.

The C’s resumed their winning ways after the All-Star Break with a three-game sweep of Eugene at Nat Bailey Stadium. A Devonte Brown two-run homer in the sixth was the difference in the first game of the weekend set on July 14. ‘Devo’ would go deep again with a three-run shot in the ninth for another come-from-behind walk-off win in the series finale. That game also marked the final time outfielder Alan Roden would wear the red and white as he was mobbed by his teammates after the game when they learned the former Creighton Bluejay was being promoted to New Hampshire. Roden put together on-base streaks of 25 games and 16 games during his time with Vancouver.

Kasevich was back from the injured list and the C’s would welcome infielder Ryan McCarty from Dunedin. The 2022 Division III Player of the Year from Penn State Abington started his High-A career with three straight two-hit games when the C’s visited Spokane who had two rehabbing major leaguers on their roster. Vancouver still managed to win four of six despite the presence of rehabbing Rockies second baseman Brendan Rodgers and pitcher Tyler Kinley with Devonte Brown taking Kinley deep.

The C’s returned north of the border to host the Everett AquaSox but it appeared the bats did not make it through customs as they were no-hit for 11 innings on July 25. AquaSox starter Raúl Alcantara put up the first six zeros and Abdiel Mendoza put up five for Vancouver. The AquaSox scored the game’s first run in the top of the 12th but the C’s would rally as Devonte Brown finally got the Canadians first hit. Turconi eventually delivered a two-run single to produce yet another win of the walk-off variety. The next night, Adam Macko shut down his former squad with five scoreless frames while Josh Kasevich hit a two-run homer to give Vancouver the lead for good. Gabby Martinez also enjoyed a two-homer night to make it two straight for the C’s over the Frogs. The only damper in the early part of the series was De Jesús being placed on the injured list. Up came fellow infielder Jeff Wehler from Dunedin. One night after hitting two home runs for the D-Jays, he managed to make it to Vancouver and he ignited two rallies by scoring twice after a single and a double in his first two Northwest League at-bats. On July 27, Kasevich belted a three-run homer to back another Harrison quality start for the C’s third win in a row. Two nights later, Vancouver would go on to win the series with the AquaSox allowing six two-out runs, the first five unearned, and Dominguez pitching five shutout innings. That was Dominguez’s last outing for the Canadians as he and Mendoza were promoted to New Hampshire.

Fellow righty Matt Svanson was going to go to Manchester as well but he was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals for shortstop Paul De Jong on August 1, joining his 2022 Vancouver teammates Adam Kloffenstein and Sem Robberse who were traded to St. Louis the day before for reliever Jordan Hicks.

After a 16-7 mark in July, the C’s visited Hillsboro to begin August and they managed to secure a series split quickly by winning the first three. The C’s were powered by a pair of two-run homers by Devonte Brown and Turconi to back Miranda for the win and Cooper Benson notched his first professional save on August 1. Turconi starred again the next night by hitting for the cycle, joining the recently activated De Jesús in the cycling club at Ron Tonkin Field. A 10th-inning win followed with Peyton Williams hitting a ground-rule double to bring in Turconi with the winning run on August 3. Unfortunately, that was the last win in Hillsboro as the Hops rallied to take the next three. The finale was really frustrating as the C’s left the bases loaded in the top of the ninth after the Hops benefitted from a missed call at second base in the bottom of the eighth in which the runner who should have been out was called safe and would later score the winning run.

The Canadians were able to shake off that disappointment by taking out their frustrations on the Tri-City Dust Devils at The Nat. A Dasan Brown home run in the ninth inning sent the series opener into extra innings. The Dust Devils took the lead again in the 11th but a walk and wild pitch allowed Kasevich to score the tying run before Rios ended it for—say it with me now—another walk-off win on August 8. That game last one for Turconi in YVR as he was promoted to New Hampshire, ending his tenure with a 34-game on-base streak which also included 15 straight games with a hit.

The Canadians forged on the next night with home runs from Williams, Dasan Brown and De Jesús the next night with Brown and De Jesús going back-to-back with Brown’s homer being of the inside-the-park variety for another victory.

The C’s won their third in a row against Tri-City on August 10 with Rios belting another home run. Harrison shut down the Dust Devils with six scoreless stanzas but the C’s needed RBI singles by Spain and Williams in the eighth gave them the lead for good. Lefty Naswell Paulino stranded two runners in the eighth and finished out the game in the ninth to get the win. Vancouver picked up the series victory as Gregory, Anders Tolhurst, Benson and Conor Larkin made a first-inning RBI single by Doughty stand up for the game’s only run. The C’s comeback magic continued the next day with Doughty driving home three runs, including a two-run homer. A three-run rally in the eighth capped off by Kasevich taking one for the team with the bases loaded for his second RBI of the day proved to be the winning run. McCarty keyed two rallies including a leadoff single in the eighth to cap off a perfect 3-for-3 day with a walk at the dish. In the series finale, Pat Gallagher made his Nat Bailey Stadium debut a good one. Promoted from Dunedin a week earlier, he allowed just a solo homer over five innings with the homer hit by his former UConn Huskies teammate Casey Dana. The C’s did all their scoring via the long ball as well as Devonte Brown went deep twice with Doughty’s homer in between proving to be the game winner. Eric Pardinho got the win in relief and Larkin closed it out to wrap up the six-game series sweep.

The C’s received another import from Dunedin in infielder Abiezel Ramirez when they embarked on a six-game road trip to Eugene. The Emeralds smoked the C’s on the scoreboard by racking up 30 runs over the first three games and Mother Nature smoked both teams out due to nearby forest fires, forcing their Friday game to be made up as part of a doubleheader the next day on August 19. That unscheduled day off revived the Vancouver offence. Homers by Spain, Devonte Brown and Wehler led to a Game 1 victory while McCarty’s two-run blast was the difference to power a doubleheader sweep. Williams hit a three-run homer in the series finale in a five-inning victory that was called due to poor air quality, giving Monty’s Mounties a series split.

Back home to square off against Spokane on August 22, Macko put up five goose eggs and struck out 11. Jarrod Cande wasn’t giving the C’s bats anything either, souring them for seven shutout frames and seven strikeouts. Spokane scored the first run of the game in the 10th but the Canadians rallied with a game-tying RBI single by Martinez before Machado ended an 0-for-18 slump with a double for the walk-off triumph. Misfortune followed as Spokane took the next three games with the lowlight being Anderson Pilar (seven innings) and Brayan Castillo (two innings) teaming up for a combined no-hitter in the second game of the series. Pilar took Macko out of the running for Northwest League Pitcher of the Week honours with that outing. Machado hit his first home run of the season two days later but the C’s would lose their third in a row in a one-run setback. On August 20, home runs by Doughty and McCarty helped the C’s take a four-run lead into the ninth but Spokane rallied to tie the contest, preventing Sánchez from earning a win after a quality start of three runs allowed over six innings. However, the Summer of Spain made a welcome return to the stage as Spain slugged a home run in the bottom of the ninth for Vancouver’s 12th walk-off victory of 2023. The Canadians had three more homers off the bats of Kasevich, Martinez and Williams in the series finale but it was not enough as Spokane left town with a 4-2 series victory.

The homestand continued with the Hillsboro Hops next up on the schedule. Prior to the series, the C’s parted ways with outfielder Devonte Brown who was called up to New Hampshire before the series started.

Utilitymen Glenn Santiago and Angel Del Rosario were given plane tickets to get to YVR from Dunedin. The series was pushed back a day as rain postponed Tuesday’s opener which Vancouver won thanks to a three-run homer by Martinez that ignited a five-run rally in the seventh on August 30. That would be the only win the C’s would get. The Hops were not the inept squad they were in the first half. After rallying to salvage a series split against the C’s at the beginning of the month in Oregon, the Hops won the next five games which included a doubleheader sweep on August 31. Gregory put up five shutout innings and Santiago hit his first homer of the season on September 1 to give the C’s a 2-0 lead in the seventh inning but the Hops rallied for a 10-inning victory thanks to a home run by Oyen, Alberta native Gavin Logan. Leam Mendez made his C’s debut with three shutout innings out of the bullpen the following night but the Hops would emerge victorious again. In the series finale, Santiago made the catch of the year by robbing Logan with a leaping grab in front of the short left field fence to rob Logan of a home run but the Hops rallied yet again to win their fifth straight game of the series on a gloomy Sunday at Nat Bailey Stadium. The last time Vancouver lost five in a row to Hillsboro at The Nat happened in 2017 but the good news was the C’s ended that season as Northwest League champions. On the other hand, the losses weren’t just limited to the scoreboard for the good ship Canadians. After losing Devonte Brown before the series began, Wehler and Ramirez were also summoned to New Hampshire and De Jesüs landed back on the injured list again.

When the C’s went to Tri-City to play the final six games of the regular season, 2023 seventh-round draft pick Nick Goodwin was called up from Dunedin and Lin was activated again after spending time in New Hampshire and on the Development List. Macko logged a zero in the run and hit columns on his pitching line while striking out eight to get the win in the series opener on September 5. Del Rosario got his first hit in a Vancouver uniform and Goodwin drew a pinch-hit walk in his first Northwest League at-bat. Harrison followed with another strong start with one run given up over five innings but the C’s fell in 10 innings to the Dust Devils in the second game of the series before being blanked in the third game. The C’s would be without the services of Dasan Brown and Martinez for three days during the series as they were placed on the Temporarily Inactive List. Outfielder Marcos De La Rosa was brought in from Dunedin and Wehler was returned to the C’s from New Hampshire. Wehler returned in style with a three-run triple to get Vancouver back in the win column with Mendez earning his first Northwest League victory on September 8.

More good news followed the next night as the C’s won again convincingly. Ryan Jennings made a successful return to the C’s rotation with two shutout innings. Tolhurst got the win as the C’s pitching staff racked up 16 strikeouts, seven by Benson. Doughty and Williams hit back-to-back jacks to put the game on ice. Those homers turned out to be the final runs scored for Vancouver as they were blanked in the series finale by the Dust Devils who managed three runs over the last two innings of regulation. C’s manager Brent Lavallee was ejected in the ninth inning after Kasevich was called for batter interference after a collision with Dust Devils reliever Ben Thompson who could not handle the ball cleanly off the mound.

Vancouver finished with its first losing month of the season in September with a 3-9 record after going 15-12 in August. To add insult to injury, the C’s wound up losing the second-half title to the Everett AquaSox by a single game after finishing with a record of 39-27. Overall, the club finished with a Northwest League-best 77-54 mark.

Not everything was doom and gloom. Brown and Martinez were activated from the Temporary Inactive list for the series finale and Macko won Northwest League Pitcher of the Week honours for his five no-hit frames.

The ball would go to Macko when the C’s headed to Everett to play Games 1 and 2 of the Northwest League Championship against the Seattle Mariners affiliate at Funko Field.

Coming up next on C’s Plus Baseball is a recap of the Northwest League Championship Series from the players’ point of view.