Jace Bohrofen (#8) chases down Dasan Brown to celebrate Brown’s walkoff single in the ninth inning on Saturday.
The Vancouver Canadians rallied again to defeat the Everett AquaSox 3-2 at Nat Bailey Stadium on Saturday.
Everett built a 2-0 lead with single runs in the third and fourth innings against C’s starter Rafael Sánchez. A well-placed one-out bunt single to third by R.J. Schreck was moved up a base on a Bill Knight tapper back to the mound before an Axel Sánchez two-out knock to center field brought Schreck home.
Another one-out rally in the fourth began with an Andrew Miller double off the center field wall. Brock Rodden singled to center to get Miller over to third and Josh Hood brought Miller home with a sacrifice fly to left. Brennan Orf made a nice sliding catch in his season debut in the seven-spot.
Vancouver finally got to Everett starter Ryan Hawks in the fifth. Jeff Wehler singled up the middle to start the inning and went to second on a wild pitch. Glenn Santiago managed to bunt his way aboard by avoiding a tag by Hunter Fitz-Gerald up the first base line and then diving back to the first base bag in time to get Wehler over to third.
Jommer Hernández got Wehler home on a one-out 5-4 fielder’s choice.
In the eighth inning, the C’s loaded the bases against Jason Ruffcorn with nobody out when Ryan McCarty singled to center and Jace Bohrofen and Nick Goodwin drew consecutive walks. AquaSox skipper Ryan Scott went to Troy Taylor to take over on the mound. Taylor got Brennan Orf to hit into a 6-4-3 double play but McCarty was able to cross the plate for the tying run.
Taylor was back on the bump for Everett in the ninth and walked Santiago after an eight-pitch at-bat. Santiago was able to steal second with a headfirst slide to avoid the tag of the shortstop Axel Sánchez. Estiven Machado moved him over to third with a 4-3 groundout. Jackson Hornung kept the line moving by drawing a walk and that set up Dasan Brown who chopped a single up the middle to score Santiago with the winning run.
C-Notes
Rafael Sánchez had traffic on the bases in the first two innings, He walked Rodden to start the game but Hernández threw him out on a steal attempt of second on a 2-4 play. Jared Sundstrom extended the frame with an infield single that Nick Goodwin had to put in his pocket after diving to stop the ball along the third base line. Schreck then drew a walk but Sánchez struck out Knight to strand the runners.
The second inning looked like it would be an easier one for Rafael Sánchez after getting Axel Sánchez grounded out to short and Moncada to tap out to the mound. Hunter Fitz-Gerald and Miller singled to left and center and Rodden walked to load the bases but Sánchez recorded another inning-ending strikeout by getting Hood to go down swinging.
The defensive highlight of the day came in the fourth inning when Santiago chased a ball down in foul territory and made a basket catch with his back to the infield, doing Willie Mays proud to help Sánchez complete four frames.
Grayson Thurman had a taxing fifth inning but he kept the AquaSox from scoring. Schreck battled Thurman to a 10-pitch at-bat before drawing a leadoff walk. Thurman would pick Schreck off at first as Santiago chased him down and applied the tag after faking a throw to second. Knight would also draw a walk but Thurman rallied to get Axel Sánchez to hit into a 5-4 fielder’s choice before fanning Moncada with his 26th pitch of the inning.
The sixth inning went much smoother for Thurman as he needed just eight pitches in the frame. Fitz-Gerald grounded out to second before Miller and Rodden both fouled out to Hernández behind the dish.
Chay Yeager had a three-up, three-down inning in the seventh but drilled Knight in the back with a 100 mile per hour fastball to begin the eighth. A passed ball by Jackson Hornung and a Fitz-Gerald walk with two outs spelled the end of the day for Yeager. Anders Tolhurst came in and got Miller to ground out to short to snuff out the rally.
Tolhurst remained in the game for the ninth and stranded a Sundstrom single to left and stolen base by retiring Schreck on a fly ball to center. He would get the win to improve to 3-1 on the season.
Jace Bohrofen was the first Canadian to reach base with a two-out walk in the first inning. Machado was the next to reach first with a leadoff walk in the third but was picked off at first by Hawks.
The first Vancouver hit of the day was a double off the manual scoreboard center field wall by Goodwin with two outs in the fourth. According to the broadcast, Goodwin drilled that ball at 105 miles per hour and travelled 394 feet. The ball actually knocked out the scoreboard tile occupying the bottom of the 10th inning. The double by Goodwin snapped an 0-for-16 skid at the dish.
A McCarty walk chased Hawks from the game to start off the sixth but lefty Holden Laws came in to get Bohrofen to hit into a 3-6 double play. Goodwin reached on an infield single to first but that was it for the C’s offence.
Vancouver tried to tie in the seventh when Santiago drew a one-out walk and somehow managed to steal second base with a swim move to avoid Rodden’s tag though it appeared Rodden maintained the tag throughout the slide. Machado lined a single to left to advance Santiago to third. Santiago had a full head of steam rounding third but manager Brent Lavallee put up the stop sign from the third base coach’s box. The two nearly collided as Santiago had to slam on the brakes and return to third. Hernández then came to the plate but after fouling off a pitch by Ruffcorn, Hornung was pressed into service as a pinch-hitter. Unfortunately, Hornung and Brown went down swinging to leave the runners at the corners.
The end of the home half of the eighth led to an ejection. Wehler took exception to something after Taylor struck him out swinging and he was thrown out of the game by home plate umpire Jabril Geter-Abdulah. Lavallee had to get in front of Wehler to make sure things did not escalate. Press box speculation surmised that Wehler may have been upset with base umpire Tyler Hovick being a distraction by not staying still.
A new pitcher is on his way to Vancouver. Righthander Carson Pierce has been promoted from Low-A Dunedin. A free agent signing by the Toronto Blue Jays from the Oklahoma Sooner last August, Pierce posted a 3.57 earned run average with 15 strikeouts in 17-2/3 innings and collected a hold with Dunedin. The 22-year-old from Edmond, Oklahoma checks in at 6-foot-3 and 215 pounds.
The Canadians victory capped off a nice day for Vice President of Sales and Marketing Walter Cosman—aka Mr. C’s—who celebrated a birthday on Saturday.
The series finale between Vancouver and Everett goes on Mother’s Day Sunday. Lazaro Estrada is slated to make his Nat Bailey Stadium on the mound for the C’s. Game time is 1:05 p.m. with Tyler Zickel and Chris Georges describing the action on CanadiansBaseball.com and MiLB.TV.
Radar Gun Rundown
Rafael Sánchez had strikeouts of 90, 95, 90 and 94 miles per hour.
Grayson Thurman was at 82 and had a strikeout at 92. Chay Yeager was at 84-95 and touched 100. Anders Tolhurst was at 78-95.
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