The Vancouver Canadians fell to the Everett AquaSox 5-4 at Nat Bailey Stadium on Monday.
Oakville, Ontario native Dasan Brown began the bottom of the first inning with a single to left field off Everett starter Shaddon Peavyhouse. Brown stole second before Jace Bohrofen drew a walk. A Peyton Williams 3-6 fielder’s choice moved Brown to third. Je’Von Ward then delivered a two-out single to right to score Brown. A Jeff Wehler single to center scored Wiliams for the second run. Peavyhouse tried to pick off Wehler at first but he threw the ball away and Ward was able to score from second to put Vancouver up 3-0.
Everett responded in a major way in the top of the second against Vancouver starter Lazaro Estrada. Jared Sundstrom crushed a home run to left field to start the frame. Caleb Cali followed with a single to right and Freuddy Batista reached base with one out when Jean Arnaez muffed a ground ball at second. Instead of a potential inning-ending double play, Axel Sánchez—who may have taken the C’s pregame ring ceremony personally as he was one of six returning members from last year’s AquaSox team—clubbed a three-run homer to left field to put Everett in the lead at 4-3.
The AquaSox added to their lead in the top of the fifth when Hunter Fitz-Gerald led off the frame with a home run to right field.
The C’s got one run back against AquaSox reliever Jimmy Kingsbury in the eighth. Williams got on base with a one-out walk and Nick Goodwin hit a ground-rule double to left. Sánchez then whiffed on a Wehler ground ball at short to allow Williams to score. Dylan Rock was hit by a pitch to load the bases but Robert Brooks grounded out to third to end the inning.
Vancouver tried to rally in the ninth when Brown walked with one out and moved up to second on a wild pitch with two outs but Everett reliever Stefan Raith struck Williams out to end the game.
C-Notes
Estrada struck out Michael Arroyo and Josh Hood to start a finish a perfect first inning. The Cuban righty then whiffed R.J. Schreck and got Hood looking in a three-up, three-down third and bookended the fourth by getting Cali and Batista looking. Estrada gave up a two-out double to Schreck but added two more whiffs with Sánchez going down swinging and getting Arroyo to look at strike three.
Aaron Munson—who is now wearing number 5 instead of 10—took care of a leadoff walk to Sundstrom in the sixth by picking him off at first. The inning would end on a Bill Knight strikeout. Munson got around a one-out Fitz-Gerald single to left and a two-out walk by fanning Sánchez and Schreck to end the seventh.
Conor Larkin had a dominant two innings of one-hit relief. Other than a Fitz-Gerald double to left field with two outs, Larkin struck out the side by getting Hood, Sundstrom and Cali swinging. Batista and Sánchez were the last two Everett hitters to go down swinging in the ninth. Sánchez took exception after strike three and had to be restrained by manager Ryan Scott. It appeared Sánchez was not too thrilled with the glare by Larkin which did not seem to be a long one but again, Sánchez and the Sox clearly had extra motivation on this day.
Peavyhouse settled down for a 1-2-3 second by making a nice pick of an Arnaez ground ball. Goodwin had a base hit to right with two outs in the third and Brooks drew a two-out walk in the fourth.
Brown was robbed of a hit when Fitz-Gerald made a nice over-the-shoulder catch near the right field line to help Tyler Cleveland completed a perfect fifth inning.
Rock got a leadoff walk against Jimmy Kingsbury in the seventh and tagged up to go to second on a Brooks foul out to right. Sundstrom made a nice catch to run it down and that was as far as Rock would go.
The C’s and AquaSox play again at Nat Bailey Stadium on Tuesday. The first pitch is at 7:05 p.m. with Pat Gallagher scheduled to throw it.
Congratulations to 2022 C’s shortstop Leo Jiménez on his call-up to the Toronto Blue Jays. The 23-year-old righthanded-hitting native of Chitre, Panama slashed .271/.416/.431 with eight doubles, seven home runs and 23 runs batted in for Triple-A Buffalo this season. The 5-foot-10, 215-pound Jiménez boasts a .392 on-base percentage over six minor league seasons.
C-Changes
The Toronto Blue Jays have called up lefthander pitcher Kai Peterson from Low-A Dunedin. The Blue Jays 20th round pick out of Sierra Junior College in 2023 went 6-3 with a 4.60 earned run average with the D-Jays this year. along with two saves and a 63-29strikeout/walk total in 31-1/3 innings The 21-year-old—who stands 6-foot-1, 195—hails from Citrus Heights, California.
As mentioned earlier, Aaron Munson is wearing number 5 as his former number 10 has gone to fellow righthander Jauron Watts-Brown.
Radar Gun Rundown
Lazaro Estrada was at 78 miles per hour with strikeouts of 80, 93, 86, 87, 85, 98, 93, 84 and 85. Aaron Munson had whiffs of 95, 88 and 90. Conor Larkin had punchouts of 96, 95, 94 and 84.
C-Tweets
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