The Vancouver Canadians defeated the Tri-City Dust Devils 5-0 at Nat Bailey Stadium on Saturday.
The C’s snapped a scoreless tie in the bottom of the fifth by stringing together their first hits of the game against Dust Devils starter Joel Hurtado. An infield single to short by Jackson Hornung and a base hit to left by Jeff Wehler opened the frame. They would cross the plate when Glenn Santiago connected for a three-run home run into the left field porch.
A Chad Stevens fielding error at short with one out in the seventh off the bat of Dylan Rock chased Hurtado from the game. Willian Suarez was brought in for the Dust Devils and gave up a two-out single to right by Jommer Hernández and an infield single to third by Dasan Brown. Estiven Machado then touched green by blooping a single in front of a diving Werner Blakely in center field. Rock and Hernández came in to score. Blakely’s throw to third to get Brown got away from Andy Blake but he chased the ball down and threw out Brown trying to score. It was a close play at the plate but home plate umpire Jabril Geter-Abdullah called Brown out.
Rafael Sánchez got the win for Vancouver with five shutout frames. Jonathan Lavallee, Naswell Paulino, Alex Amalfi and Conor Larkin contributed a scoreless inning apiece.
C-Notes
Sánchez retired the side in order, striking out Matt Coutney to end a 1-2-3 inning that featured a nice catch by Jace Bohrofen who ranged toward the right-center field gap on a fly ball by Blakely that began the game.
Tri-City’s first hit was a broken-bat single to left by Stevens in his first Northwest League at-bat to lead off the top of the second. Stevens made it to second on a Kevin Bruggeman groundout to third but Sánchez struck out Cam Williams on the way to getting out of the inning.
A 1-2-3 third by Sánchez ended when Bohrofen made a running over-the-shoulder catch toward the wall in right field. Bohrofen would leave the game in the top of the fourth with Rock taking over in right, Santiago moving from shortstop to left field and Machado entering the game at the six-spot.
In the Tri-City fourth, Sánchez worked around a two-out infield single to short by Stevens and a base hit to right by Bruggeman thanks to an inning-opening strikeout of Jadiel Sánchez and an inning-ending whiff of Williams.
The Dust Devils saw Blakely get to second on an infield single to third and a throwing error by Wehler to start the top of the sixth but Lavallee fanned Coutney and got Stevens to look at strike three.
The Dust Devils nearly opened the scoring to begin the fifth when Andy Blake’s drive to left was hauled in by Santiago in front of the short left field fence. Jorge Ruiz picked up a two-out hit to right but was thrown out stealing by Hernández on a 2-6 putout.
Paulino struck out Williams on a foul tip in a perfect seventh before Amalfi took over in the eighth. Ketchup was the leadoff man and fell be-Heinz in the count at 0-2 before striking out. Ruiz struck out but made it to first on a wild pitch but was thrown out stealing again on another 2-6 play.
Larkin had trouble finding his groove in the top of the ninth. Joe Stewart—who replaced Jadiel Sánchez in right field—singled to right and Coutney was plunked in the ribs in the left-handed batter’s box on an 0-2 pitch. After Stevens struck out on a foul tip, Bruggeman walked to load the bases. Larkin would find light at the end of the tunnel by whiffing Williams and getting Blake to fly out to center.
The C’s had just one baserunner in the first four innings and that was a leadoff walk by Brown. Unfortunately for the Oakville, Ontario native, he was thrown out stealing by Bruggeman on a 2-4 play. That helped Hurtado face just a dozen batters over the first four frames.
Machado had a base hit to right to start the sixth and got to second on a Nick Goodwin groundout to third but that was it for the C’s in that frame. Wehler had a two-out double to right for the C’s final hit of the game in the eighth against Cam Minacci.
The C’s and Dust Devils are scheduled to play at 1:05 p.m. on Sunday. Lazaro Estrada is slated to climb the slope for Vancouver. The game is available on CanadiansBaseball.com and MiLB.TV.
Congratulations to 2023-2024 C’s infielder Ryan McCarty has been promoted to Double-A New Hampshire. The former Penn State Abington product had 13 extra-base hits and seven stolen bases to go along with a .726 OPS in 42 games with Monty’s Mounties this season. Arguably the MVP of the 2023 Northwest League Championship Series with the game winning RBI in Game 1 and displaying savvy base running to score the lone run of Game 3, Ryan and his Mötley Crüe walkup music will be missed.
2022-2023 C’s infielder Michael Turconi has been called up from Double-A New Hampshire to Triple-A Buffalo. The former Wake Forest Demon Deacon had a .725 OPS in 37 games with the Fisher Cats. He went 2-for-5 with two RBI in Buffalo’s 13-5 win over Syracuse on Saturday. He drove in both runs with a base hit in his first Triple-A plate appearance.
2022-2023 C’s reliever T.J. Brock and 2022 infielder Damiano Palmegiani have been sent to Dunedin for a rehab assignment.
Radar Gun Rundown
Rafael Sánchez was at 81-95 miles per hour with strikeouts of 88, 90, 90, 88 and 87. Johnathan Lavallee had a strikeout at 96 and was up to 97. Naswell Paulino was at 80-90 with a punchout of 87. Alex Amalfi was at 87 with a strikeout of 94. Conor Larkin was at 79-97 with Ks of 80 and 96.
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