The Vancouver Canadians downed the Hillsboro Hops 5-4 at Nat Bailey Stadium on Tuesday.
A two-run bottom of the eighth broke a 3-3 deadlock. Jace Bohrofen beat out an infield single to the mound that Hops pitcher and Vancouver, B.C. native Eli Saul could not handle as the ball glanced off his right glove after following through with the pitch. Hillsboro first baseman Gino Groover injured his left wrist in a collision with Bohrofen when Groover tried to catch Saul’s desperation throw from the mound. Groover was replaced by Ken Sim at first base and Wyatt Crenshaw took over third base for Sim.
Saul then walked Nick Goodwin and Dylan Rock to load the bases with nobody out. Saul was relieved by lefty Armando Vazquez to face the lefthanded-htting Brennan Orf. stepped up and delivered a double to right field that scored Bohrofen with the go-ahead run but Gavin Conticello started a 9-3-2 relay to throw out Goodwin at the plate. In another lefty-lefty matchup, Jaden Rudd got the best of Vazquez with a single up the middle to drive in Rock with the C’s fifth run. Rudd was able to avoid being tagged out at second when the relay throw from center was cut off by Sim at first by artfully dodging the tag from shortstop Juan Corniel. The C’s could not add any more runs when Estiven Machado hit a ground ball to third. Sim was able to catch Orf just off the third base bag applying the tag. Jommer Hernández then struck out to end the inning.
Vancouver took the lead in the third against Hillsboro starter Billy Corcoran. Dasan Brown started the frame with a single to center and made it to second when Ryan McCarty’s ground ball to Corniel at short was booted. It looked like a double play ball off the bat but instead, Goodwin came up to the plate and uncorked one to left field to put Monty’s Mounties up 3-0.
Hillsboro came back with a run in the fifth against C’s reliever Alex Amalfi. David Martin reached first on an infield single to short that Goodwin got to by diving to his right but he could not get enough mustard on the throw to first. Walks by Corniel and Andrew Pintar loaded the bases. Manny Peña hit a grounder to second that Estiven Machado mishandled but he recovered in time to flip the ball to Goodwin who stayed on the second base bag long enough to record the out. Amalfi kept the damage to one run by getting Groover to pop out to short before striking out Jack Hurley swinging.
The Hops would even things up in the sixth against C’s righthander Johnathan Lavallee. Walks by Christian Cerda and Conticello would come around to score on a one-out double to right by Martin. Despite a balk that sent Martin to third, Lavallee struck out Corniel and Pintar to keep the game tied.
Radar Gun Rundown
Chris McElvain was at 82 to 95 miles per hour and registered strikeouts at 87 and 88.
Alex Amalfi at 74-95 with a strikeout of 92. Jonathan Lavallee had strikeouts of 83, 79, 95 and 92. Justin Kelly had Ks of 96, 95, 84 and 95.
C-Notes
The top of the ninth was a wild one to say the least. Justin Kelly worked a one-hit eighth by striking out the side and mowed down the first two men he faced in the ninth, getting Peña to go down swinging.
The final out proved to be elusive. Crenshaw drew a walk on a 3-2 pitch and then stole second base. The throw by Hernández by the plate went right to Goodwin who was well behind the second base bag. It would have been defensive indifference but Hernández’s throw changed the call to a stolen base.
Brett Johnson—who had entered the game as a pinch-runner—drew a walk to put the potential tying run on base. The Canadians dugout took exception to the small strike zone by home plate umpire Spencer Kim—in particular a 2-2 borderline pitch from Kelly to Johnson at the knees. Kim had walked toward the dugout to say ‘Enough!’.
C’s pitching coach Austin Bibens-Dirkx visited the mound after Johnson’s free pass and was immediately tossed from the game by Kim just seconds after the conference was over. Hernández and manager Brent Lavallee had to get in between Bibens-Dirx and Kim to calm things down. Cerda kept the rally going with a base hit to center on a 3-2 pitch to drive in Crenshaw and get Johnson over to third. Rafael Ohashi was warming up in the bullpen but Kelly—after falling behind in the count 2-0—retired Conticello on a ground ball to second to end the game.
Both teams had traffic on the bases in the first but did not score. The Hops had two men on with one out when Peña walked and Groover singled to right but McElvain got the next two men, striking out Cerda to end the inning.
The C’s loaded the bases in the bottom of the first with a two-out rally when Bohrofen reached base on a catcher’s interference call, Goodwin flared a single to right and Rock drew a walk but Orf grounded out to second.
The Hops lost two players to injury in Monday’s game. In addition to Groover, Hurley stole second base in the seventh inning. There was no collision involved so it appeared to be a pulled muscle. Johsnon came in to pinch-run but Lavallee stranded him by striking out Cerda.
Kendry Rojas gets the rawhide for the C’s in the second game of this series against Hillsboro. First pitch is at 7:05 p.m. Tyler Zickel and Chris Georges will have the call on CanadiansBaseball.com and MiLB.TV.
Championship Recap
C’s Plus Baseball caught up with outfielder Dasan Brown and reliever Justin Kelly during Media Day last week to get their recollections of the 2023 Northwest League Championship Series against the Everett AquaSox. Their comments have been included in an updated version of the Season in Review – 2023 Championship Edition.’
For a sneak preview, Brown spoke about the C’s thrilling 1-0 victory in Game 3 at The Nat to grab a 2-1 series lead.
“I don’t think I took a breath that entire game. I think the entire nine innings, it was just constant stress and emotions.”
Kelly did not think he was going to pitch the final inning of Game 4 to seal the deal for Monty’s Mounties.
“I had no idea. We had quite a big lead there in the ninth and when the radio came down in the eighth and told me to get moving around, I’m going to have the ninth, I got really excited.”
For Brown’s and Kelly’s full comments, you are again invited to check out the updated version of the ‘Season in Review – 2023 Championship Edition.’
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