The Vancouver Canadians found the win column with a 4-2 victory over the Hillsboro Hops at Hillsboro Ballpark on Friday.
The C’s surpassed their Thursday baserunner total of two in the first inning against Hops starter Roman Angelo. Dasan Brown led off with a single to left field and got to trot home on a Ryan McCarty two-run home run to right. One out later, Nick Goodwin dialled long distance with a solo homer to left to give Vancouver a 3-0 advantage.
Vancouver added their final run in the second inning. Jean Arnaez started the frame with a base knock to right and that was followed by a one-out walk to Brown and a base hit to center by McCarty to load the bases. Jace Bohrofen took one for the team as Angelo hit the former Arkansas Razorback in the right leg to bring Arnaez home.
Hillsboro got on the board in the bottom of the third against Vancouver starter Chris McElvain. A one-out walk to Andrew Pintar came around to score on a Gavin Conticello double to right.
Conticello got the best of McElvain again with a triple to right with one away in the fifth inning. A wild pitch allowed Conticello to cross the dish with the final run of the game.
C-Notes
McElvain earned his second win to even his record at 2-2 and his outing would have been even better if he did not have to deal with Conticello. The Hillsboro right fielder collected the first of three extra-base hits of the night with a two-out double in the first inning. McElvain stranded Conticello by striking out Christian Cerda, his second strikeout of the game after beginning his outing with a punchout of Jack Hurley.
In the bottom of the second, McElvain racked up four strikeouts. He fanned Manny Peña to begin the frame but a Jackson Hornung passed ball and a single by Kevin Sim put two Hillsboro runners aboard. McElvain rallied to fan the side by whiffing David Martin, José Fernandez and Juan Corniel.
The fourth inning saw McElvain strand two more runners as a single to right by Fernandez and a base hit to left by Corniel were nullified on a Hurley fly out to left.
Chay Yeager put two zeroes on the board for Vancouver, striking out Fernández to finish the sixth inning and whiffing Hurley in the seventh. A Pintar single with two outs in the seventh was Yeager’s only misstep.
Grayson Thurman overcame a pair of two-out singles to left by Sim and Martin to work a scoreless eighth. Thurman almost had a 1-2-3 frame as he tried to chase down a foul ball of Sim in foul territory but it just eluded his reach. The former Lynchburg Hornet ran into the netting but was able to continue.
Justin Kelly locked it down with a three-up, three-down ninth inning, striking out Pintar swinging to pick up his third save of the year.
Jackson Hornung had an infield single to third to begin the top of the sixth inning. That snapped a string of 10 straight batters retired by Angelo as he shut the door in innings three through five, building on the momentum of a Goodwin 6-4-3 double play to end the second.
Jamari Baylor collected his first in a Vancouver uniform with a single to right off Jhosmer Alvarez to open the ninth inning. The former Phillies and Rockies farmhand made his debut on Thursday and has played first base in his first two games with the C’s. Baylor also made a nice scoop on a low throw from McCarty to retire Corniel who tried to bunt his way aboard to start the seventh.
Hillsboro manager Javier Colina tipped his cap to Canadians third baseman Ryan McCarty during the MiLB.TV broadcast during the top of the second inning on Friday.
“For me, he’s one of the best hitters in the league…he’s a strong kid….(the pitch) was middle-away. I don’t know what his approach was at that moment. He squared the ball. I give him some credit. It’s not easy when a righthanded hitter hits an opposite-field home run in this field. You know how tough that is.”
To prove a point, McCarty singled up the middle two pitches after Hops play-by-play man Rich Burk concluded his interview with Colina.
The C’s will look for a second straight victory on Saturday as they send Rafael Sánchez to the slope. Chris Georges is back on the call at CanadiansBaseball.com. The game can also been seen on MiLB.TV beginning at 4:05 p.m.
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