The Vancouver Canadians edged the Tri-City Dust Devils 4-3 at Gesa Stadium on Wednesday.
The scoring began in the top of the first when Jamari Baylor led off the game with a single to center field off Dust Devils starter Joel Hurtado. Baylor stole second and came home on a Peyton Williams base hit up the middle.
Tri-City tied the game against C’s starter Pat Gallagher in the bottom of the first. Caleb Ketchup drew a one-out walk, swiped second and scored on a Matt Coutney two-out single to left. Coutney was thrown out on a 7-5-3 putout started by Je’Von Ward to end the inning.
The Canadians grabbed the lead again in the top of the third when Jace Bohrofen homered to right field on Hurtado’s second pitch of the inning. Williams singled again up the gut and rumbled home on a two-out double to left by Dylan Rock to make it 3-1 C’s.
The Dust Devils would make it a one-run game in the bottom of the third. Werner Blakely began the inning with a double to center field and tagged up to go to third on a. Jorge Ruiz fly out to center. A sacrifice fly to center by Ketchup got Werner home with Tri-City’s second run.
Tri-City evened things up in the home half of the fourth when Chad Stevens walked with one out and came home on a two-out Kevin Bruggeman triple to center.
The C’s would break the tie in the top of the seventh against Dylan Phillips. A one-out triple to center by Bohrofen and a walk by Williams. Tri-City tried to turn a double play when Ward hit a grounder to short. The ball deflected off Phillips’ glove but Stevens was able to catch the ball and from his stomach, he flipped the ball to second to force out Williams. The throw from Ketchup was not nearly in time to get Ward at first as the 6-4 fielder’s choice got Bohrofen across the plate with the winning run.
C-Notes
Gallagher stranded a Chad Stevens leadoff single and his two stolen bases at third by striking out the side in the bottom of the second. Caleb Pendleton, Bruggeman and Andy Blake were the strikeout victims. Gallagher’s first 1-2-3 inning came in the fifth which included a Ketchup strikeout.
Conor Larkin fanned Stevens and Pendleton to finish a perfect sixth and whiffed Bruggeman and Blakely for a spotless seventh to earn the win.
Josh Mollerus struck out Ketchup in the midst of a perfect eighth inning for the hold and Alex Amalfi struck out Coutney to open the ninth. After Marcos De La Rosa made a sliding catch in center to take away a hit from Stevens, Amalfi would retire pinch-hitter Mason Martin on a pop fly to third to collect the save.
The C’s could not build their lead in the first inning. Robert Brooks singled to short and Rock walked with two outs to load the bases before Hurtado got Estiven Machado to fly out to left.
De La Rosa bunted his way aboard for his first hit of the season with one out in the second inning but was later caught stealing.
A Ward double to right with two outs, a Jean Arnaez single to center in the sixth and an Arnaez double to right that went to third on a wild pitch in the eighth were stranded.
The Canadians finish off the first half of the season with Connor O’Halloran on the hill. Chris Georges will have the call on CanadiansBaseball.com. Doug Taylor will do likewise on MiLB.TV. The first pitch is at 7:05 p.m.
Congratulations to 2019, 2021 and 2022 C’s righthander Adam Kloffenstein who has been called up by the St. Louis Cardinals. The 23-year-old from Magnolia, Texas was 3-3 with a 3.97 earned run average and 68 strikeouts in 77 innings at Triple-A Memphis. The 6-foot-5 hurler was acquired by the Cardinals along with fellow C’s righthander Sem Robberse (2021-2022) in a trade that sent righty Jordan Hicks to Toronto on July 30 of last year.
C-Tweets
Discover more from C's Plus Baseball | A Vancouver Canadians Blog
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
C's Plus Baseball | A Vancouver Canadians Blog 