C’s Recap – Hornung Brings Home Two but Canadians 9th Inning Rally Fizzles Against AquaSox – C's Plus Baseball

Jackson Hornung looks on in disbelief after being called out at third base while C’s manager Brent Lavallee gets ready to give an earful to base umpire Jabril Geter-Abdulah in the fourth inning on Sunday.

The Vancouver Canadians fell to the Everett AquaSox 4-3 at Nat Bailey Stadium on Sunday.

Everett scored first in the top of the second inning against Vancouver starter Lazaro Estrada. The Frogs had three hitters reach safely with one away starting with a Hunter Fitz-Gerald single to left field. Colin Davis was then hit in the hand on an 0-2 pitch and Freuddy Batista singled to center to drive in Fitz-Gerald.

The Canadians would tie the game in the fourth with two extra-base hits. Brennan Orf tripled to left field when R.J. Schreck was unable to make a diving catch in the corner. Unfortunately, Orf was injured on a headfirst slide and had to be replaced by Jean Arnaez. Jackson Hornung then drove the ball past right fielder Colin Davis to bring in Arnaez and went to third on a headfirst slide. However, base umpire Jabril Geter-Abdulah called Hornung out and that led to a heated argument with Canadians manager Brent Lavallee. Glenn Santiago drew a walk and went to second on a wild pitch by Everett starter Michael Morales. Santiago tried to get to third on the play but was thrown out by Batista from behind the plate. Dylan Rock walked and Jaden Rudd singled to right but Vancouver had to settle for just one run.

The tie lasted for only two pitches as Schreck greeted new C’s reliever Josh Mollerus with a home run to right field in the top of the fifth inning to put Everett ahead 2-1. Jared Sundstrom drew a one-out walk and Bill Knight was plunked with a pitch. Mollerus struck out Axel Sánchez for the second out but walked Fitz-Gerald to load the bases. Rafael Ohashi relieved Mollerus but plunked Davis to bring home Sundstrom for the third Everett run. Ohashi then struck out Batista to end the frame.

The C’s answered that run in the bottom of the fifth against Frogs reliever Jimmy Kingsbury. A leadoff walk by Ryan McCarty was followed by an infield knock to second by Jace Bohrofen. They remained at first and second until Hornung singled to left with two outs to score McCarty. The inning ended when Santiago was robbed of a hit on a diving catch by Knight.

The AquaSox added one more run in the top of the eighth against Justin Kelly. A single to left by Schreck on the first pitch of the inning would come around to score on a Knight two-out double to left-center.

The Canadians staged a rally in the bottom of the ninth against AquaSox reliever Stefan Raith. They got the tying runs on with one out when Bohrofen walked and Nick Goodwin singled to center. Hornung drew a walk with two outs to load the bases. With Jeff Wehler pinch-running for Hornung, Santiago made a bid for a single up the middle but a diving stop by Brock Rodden at second limited Santiago to an infield knock. That allowed Bohrofen to score to bring the C’s to within a run. Dylan Rock came up with the bases loaded and it appeared he went around on a check swinging. However, the base umpire Geter-Abdullah did not agree and he got an earful from the Everett dugout. The game ended a pitch later when Raith struck out Rock looking on a 3-2 pitch.

C-Notes

Estrada stranded a one-out double to right by Schreck and a single to center by Hood by striking out the side by sitting down Rodden, Sundstrom and Knight. A Sundstrom one-out double to center in the third inning was also stranded by Estrada fanning the side with Hood, Knight and Sánchez among his strikeout victims. Knight was caught looking at strike three. The fourth inning saw Estrada strike out Davis looking with a Batista knock to center as his only blemish in the frame.

Dasan Brown was robbed of a leadoff hit in the first inning when Schreck made a diving catch in left field. Bohrofen would double with two outs and steal third base but Goodwin would fly out to right.

Hornung drew a walk with two away in the second and McCarty and Bohrofen had consecutive singles to right with two outs in the third but the C’s came up empty both times. Goodwin lifted a fly ball that neither Schreck nor Sánchez could come up as they collided but the ball fell to the ground in foul territory. Goodwin would later strike out to end the third.

A one-out walk by McCarty and two-out free pass by Rudd in the sixth were also wasted as Everett reliever Chris Jefferson got out of that jam. Rudd also had a double to right against Tyler Cleveland with two away in the eighth but that was all the C’s could muster.

Carson Pierce made his Canadians debut by pitching a scoreless ninth inning. He struck out Fitz-Gerald swinging and Davis looking before a double to left by Batista. The righthander got Rodden to ground out to second for the third out. Pierce has been assigned number 18. He was called up from Low-A Dunedin after righthander Kevin Miranda was placed on the seven-day injured list after throwing just two pitches during Wednesday’s game against Everett.

There was some good news on the injury front. Catcher Jommer Hernández is not going on the injured list. Word is he suffered a muscle cramp that forced him to exit Saturday’s game during an at-bat.

The C’s begin a 13-game road trip on Tuesday as they visit the Spokane Indians for the first of a seven-game series that includes a doubleheader on Saturday. Tuesday’s series opener goes at 6:35 p.m. at Avista Stadium. Tyler Zickel will have the call on CanadiansBaseball.com. The game can also be seen on MiLB.TV. After that series in Spokane, the Canadians go to Hillsboro for a six-game set.

The club will return home on Tuesday, May 28 when the Tri-City Dust Devils come to town.

Radar Gun Rundown

Lazaro Estrada had strikeouts of 90, 94, 97. 82, 81 and 94 miles per hour. Josh Mollerus was at 82-94. Rafael Ohashi was at 81-95 with strikeouts of 85 and 82. Justin Kelly was 82-97 with a strikeout of 89. Carson Pierce had two strikeouts at 84 and was up to 95.