The Vancouver Canadians slipped past the Tri-City Dust Devils 1-0 at Gesa Stadium on Sunday.
The only run of the game came in the top of the first inning. Jamari Baylor worked a leadoff walk from Tri-City starter Ryan Costieu and stole second base. Peyton Williams sent a ground ball up the middle that second baseman Caleb Ketchup could not squeeze as the ball went into center field, allowing Baylor to score.
C’s starter Rafael Sánchez made that stand up with seven shutout innings to get the win. Conor Larkin and Grayson Thurman helped bring it home by collecting the hold and save respectively.
C-Notes
Sánchez was put to the test early as he surrendered a leadoff double to right field by Joe Redfield and he would steal third on an Adrian Placencia strikeout. Redfield would remain 90 feet away as Sánchez struck out the side by getting Matt Coutney and Cam Williams swinging.
Juan Flores and Ketchup both went down swinging to end a perfect second inning for Sánchez and Jadiel Sánchez and Werner Blakely came up empty to start another perfect stanza in the third.
Placencia and Coutney also failed to make contact swinging the bat as part of another spotless stanza for Rafael Sánchez in the fourth.
Tri-City did a runner aboard with two outs in the fifth when Ketchup singled to short and stole second base but Rafael Sanchez got Jadiel Sánchez to line out to center field.
The Dust Devils got another runner in scoring position when Blakely ripped a triple down the right field line to start the sixth inning. Rafael Sanchez would strike out Redfield swinging and Placencia looking before Coutney was retired on a fly ball to left.
Rafael Sánchez punctuated his outing with a 1-2-3 seventh inning, striking out Flores looking.
Larkin had a three-up, three-down eighth inning which ended with Ruiz and Blakely striking out.
Thurman retired the first two men he faced in the ninth before Coutney reached on a wild pitch after swinging at strike three. The game ended four pitches later when Thurman struck out Cam Williams.
Most weeks, Rafael Sánchez would win the Northwest League Pitcher of the Week award. However, that honour is expected to go to his teammate Lazaro Estrada after pitching a seven-inning no-hitter with eight strikeouts against the Dust Devils on Tuesday.
The C’s offence was shut down by Costeiu as he retired the last 13 hitters he faced, striking out five in a row at one point and eight overall over five innings.
Vancouver finally got a hit when Jace Bohrofen doubled with two outs in the sixth off Dust Devils reliever Ryan Langford. Jadiel Sánchez dove for the ball in left field but could not come up with it. He appeared to jam his wrist or arm on the play and was replaced in the seven-spot by Jorge Ruiz.
Peyton Williams walked to start the top of the seventh and went to second on a wild pitch but was thrown out at third trying to advance on a Jackson Hornung ground ball to second. Je’Von Ward walked and Jommer Hernández was hit by a pitch with two outs but Langford got Estiven Machado to fly out to center field.
The C’s could not break through against Luke Murphy in the ninth. Jackson Hornung singled to center with one out and pinch-runner Marcos De La Rosa moved to second on a balk. Dylan Rock drew a walk with two outs but that was surrounded by strikeouts of Ward and Hernández.
De La Rosa took over in center field for Bohrofen who moved to right. Jean Arnaez replaced Hornung at first base.
Sunday’s win evens Vancouver’s overall record at 32-32 and improves its second-half mark to 3-0.
The Canadians begin their second-half home schedule with a nine-game homestand. First up is the Hillsboro Hops as they arrive at Nat Bailey Stadium on Tuesday for the start of a six-game set. Lazaro Estrada is expected to throw the first pitch at 7:05 p.m. Tyler Zickel and Chris Georges will be on the air at CanadiansBaseball.com and MiLB.TV.
2022 C’s outfielder Steward Berroa made his major league debut for the Toronto Blue Jays as a defensive replacement in center field in the ninth inning of Sunday’s loss in Cleveland.
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