The Vancouver Canadians blanked the Tri-City Dust Devils 3-0 at Nat Bailey Stadium on Thursday.
Vancouver’s Connor O’Halloran and Tri-City’s Ryan Costieu traded zeros in the first three innings. O’Halloran held serve in the fourth but Costieu could not in the bottom of the half frame. Nick Goodwin nearly left the yard to start the inning but the ball caromed off the short left field fence after Joe Stewart could not make a leaping catch. Goodwin never broke stride rounding second and he slid headfirst into third base for a triple. Jackson Hornung then lined a base hit to left to score Goodwin.
The sixth saw Goodwin and Hornung team up with consecutive hits against Dust Devils reliever Quinton Martinez. Goodwin led off with a double to left and Hornung reached on an infield single to second. Jeff Wehler hit into a 6-4-3 double play but Goodwin scored his second run of the game.
Goodwin sparked another rally in the eighth with Jake Smith on the hill for Tri-City. A leadoff walk by Goodwin came around to score on a Hornung double to left.
C-Notes
O’Halloran encountered his first jam in the first inning. He surrendered a one-out double by Caleb Ketchup as the ball just stayed fair into the left field corner. Hornung would throw out Ketchup trying to steal third thanks to a good throw that had plenty of mustard on it as Ryan McCarty laid down the tag. The inning ended with an O’Halloran strikeout of Jadiel Sánchez.
In the top of the second, Cam Williams drew a two-out walk and moved to second on a passed ball but called strikeouts of Caleb Pendleton and Ronaldo Flores from O’Halloran to get out of the frame.
The top of the third featured a battle of former Michigan Wolverine teammates as O’Halloran squared off against Stewart. Round one went to Stewart as he had a one-out single up the middle which snuck underneath O’Halloran’s glove. Stewart advanced to second when a Blakely liner to second was misplayed by Glenn Santiago who was trying to start a double play. O’Halloran overcame that by getting the next two hitters including a strikeout of Ketchup.
The fourth inning started with O’Halloran getting a pair of ground outs, the latter being a candidate for the defensive play of the year. Goodwin made a nice pick on a sharp grounder to third by Pendleton and Jean Arnaez stretched his 5-foot-10 frame at first while keeping his foot anchored to the first base bag to complete the 5-3 play. Cam Williams kept the inning going with a walk and went to second and third on two wild pitches before Flores flew out to right.
A 1-2-3 inning was turned in by O’Halloran in the fifth before Carson Pierce took over in the sixth. Coutney doubled to right with two outs and got to third on a passed ball but that was bracketed by strikeouts of Sánchez swinging and Pendleton looking.
Pierce took care of business with a spotless seventh that was punctuated by a strikeout of Andy Blake.
Johnathan Lavallee was also perfect in the eighth, striking out Stewart looking and Blakely swinging.
Josh Mollerus allowed a single to left by Pendleton with two outs in the ninth before fanning Williams to lock down the save and secure the win for O’Halloran in his Northwest League debut.
The C’s first hit came in the third inning when Arnaez was credited with an infield single to third with one away. Dasan Brown drew a walk with two away but that was it for the rally.
Brown walked again with two outs and McCarty singled but Jace Bohrofen was caught looking at strike three in the fifth.
Arnaez, Brown and McCarty all heard ball four issued by Smith in the seventh but a 6-4-3 double play ball by Estiven Machado came between the Arnaez and Brown free passes before Bohrofen went down swinging.
It’s doubleheader day at The Nat on Friday. Ryan Jennings and Chris McElvain are listed as the probable starters for the C’s. Game 1 is set for 1:05 p.m. on CanadiansBaseball.com and MiLB.TV. with Tyler Zickel and Chris Georges describing the action.
Radar Gun Rundown
Connor O’Halloran had strikeouts of 92, 80, 90 and 79 miles per hour. Carson Pierce was at 81-98 with punchouts of 87, 93 and 85. Johnathan Lavallee had Ks of 88 and 95 and was up to 98. Josh Mollerus was at 84-93.
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