The Vancouver Canadians bounced back from an 8-1 loss to the Everett AquaSox on Thursday with a 5-1 win on Friday and a 3-2 victory on Saturday at Funko Field.
Game 1 Recap
Jauron Watts-Brown made his C’s debut in the series opener and kept the Frogs off the board until the fourth inning when Bill Knight clubbed a two-run home run as part of a four-run outburst. Knight would also get reliever Rafael Ohashi for another two-run shot in the sixth.
Vancouver’s only run came in the fifth when Robert Brooks singled to right field off Everett starter Will Schomberg and came home on a double to right field by Estiven Machado in tandem with a Lazaro Montes throwing error.
Jackson Hornung and Jeff Wehler had two hits apiece. Brooks and Dasan Brown were on base twice. Brooks was hit by a pitch while Brown had a single and a walk. Aaron Munson provided two shutout innings in relief with one walk and one strikeout.
Game 2 Recap
An RBI double to center by Peyton Williams got things rolling for the C’s in the first inning against AquaSox starter Marcelo Perez as Dasan Brown came home after getting on board due to an error in center field by his center field counterpart Bill Knight.
Dylan Rock drilled a one-out solo home run to right-center off Perez in the fifth to expand the Vancouver lead. In the sixth, Williams singled to left to lead things off against Perez, moved to second on a wild pitch and scored on a two-out single to center by Jackson Hornung to up the C’s lead to 3-0.
After Vancouver starter Carson Pierce racked up five strikeouts over three shutout innings, Everett did get to Johnathan Lavallee for a run in the sixth after an R.J. Schreck leadoff hit to left eventually scored on a two-out wild pitch.
The Canadians put the game away in the ninth against Jimmy Kingsbury. A one-out single to center by Jeff Wehler and a Rock hit-by-pitch would race home on a Brown double to left.
Lavallee got the win, Conor Larkin pitched two shutout stanzas for the hold and Chay Yeager worked a clean ninth to finish up.
Game 3 Recap
Rehabbing Seattle Mariners pitcher Bryan Woo got the start for the Frogs. He got away with a Dasan Brown leadoff walk in the first but had paid for a one-out walk to Jackson Hornung in the second inning, That’s because Hornung would come home to score on a Jeff Wehler home run to right field to give the C’s a 2-0 advantage.
Canadians starter Rafael Sánchez was also burned by a one-out walk in the fourth when Caleb Cali worked the count to ball four. Freuddy Batista then cleared the fence in left field to tie the game at 2-2.
After Woo was picked up by lefty Holden Laws in the third, rehabbing M’s reliever Gregory Santos worked a perfect fourth inning. Shaddon Peavyhouse—who was listed earlier as the probable starter for this game—took the ball in the fifth and kept the C’s off the hit column until Peyton Williams drilled a two-out solo shot to right-center field with two outs in the eighth.
Everett had a chance to take the lead in the seventh after being held in check by Alex Amalfi in the fifth and sixth. Michael Arroyo singled to center field with out against Naswell Paulino and made it to third on an R.J. Schreck double to right. Arroyo was thrown out at the plate by Nick Goodwin at short on a ground ball by Josh Hood. Robert Brooks applied the tag on Arroyo for the 6-2 fielder’s choice. Paulino got out of the jam by getting Lazaro Montes to pop out to Goodwin.
Grayson Thurman bookended perfect eighth and ninth innings with strikeouts, getting Bill Knight and Batista in the eighth and Hunter Fitz-Gerald and Arroyo all swinging in the ninth for the save.
Wehler injured his hand sliding into second base after a successful steal attempt but remained in the game. It’s not the first time the artificial turf has punished the former Pittsburgh Panther. He banged up his knee on a diving catch near the line in shallow right field to rob Harry Ford of a hit in Game 1 of the 2023 Northwest League Championship Series.
Goodwin also made a nice play to handle a Colin Davis chopper to short for the penultimate out of the game.
C-Notes
Thanks a million to Mike MacCulloch of the Everett AquaSox for granting press privileges for Saturday’s series finale and to AquaSox game host Steve Willits and usher Dave for the hospitality.
There were three former Vancouver Canadians in action in Saturday’s game between the Toronto Blue Jays and Seattle Mariners. 2019 and 2021 infielder Spencer Horwitz had a walk and was hit by a pitch in his three times in the batter’s box and Davis Schneider pinch-hit for Horwitz and had a walk in two plate appearances. Schneider struck out against 2015 C’s lefty Tayler Saucedo who pitched two-thirds of a scoreless inning with two punchouts and one walk. It was disappointing not to see 2022 Vancouver Canadians Leo Jiménez and Steward Berroa get in the game, which ended in a 5-4 victory for the Jays. Fellow 2022 infielder Addison Barger was sent back to Triple-A Buffalo on Saturday but did get to play on Friday in Seattle.
The C’s begin a six-game series on Tuesday at Eugene to take on the Emeralds. Chris Georges will have the play-by-play on CanadiansBaseball.com. The game is also on MiLB.TV.
C-Changes
Lefthander Kendry Rojas has joined the C’s again after a rehab stint with Low-A Dunedin. He was spotted in the Vancouver dugout on Saturday. The Cuban was placed on the injured list after one relief appearance and one start in April. He is back wearing number 16.
Lavallee on Jays Talk Plus
Vancouver Canadians manager Brent Lavallee spoke with Blake Murphy of Jays Talk Plus during the team’s visit to Everett. The North Delta, B.C. native was asked about the team’s hot start to the second half.
“I think just belief in self from these guys. Like our players have been working hard all year and they stick to their plan and it’s just kind of one of those things where we went on that road trip two weeks ago when the first half and second half ended halfway through that week and it was just belief in self. We went down there with a goal to do and a job to do and then the guys executed and then it just kind of got easier and easier to execute when things are going well. And we’ve had tremendous pitching all year long and that really was exemplified in that first two weeks of this second half.”
Lavallee also spoke about the recent promotion of pitcher Ryan Jennings to Double-A New Hampshire.
“Ryan, he’s struggled injuries a little bit in his college and pro career. So really with him, it was just overall health. And getting him back to being himself. And that’s something he established last year when he helped us win that championship. And he came back this year. And I think the biggest goal was just get used to the rotation and build up the pitch count and do your job. And you’ll move once you do so. And yeah, he was tremendous and answered any questions about his health and showed that he can throw 100 pitches in the night and not lose a ticket of stuff. So, really excited for Ryan.”
Though righthander Lazaro Estrada was not called up at the time of the interview, Lavallee could sense his promotion was coming.
“Lazaro always had the ability to do it at a high level. Same thing, just with the injuries and making sure he’s healthy and strong and built up enough to make that jump to Double-A and I have a feeling that’s gonna be happening pretty soon now with him. But yeah, not surprised one bit by his success. I have been really impressed by his repeatability and his ability to attack hitters. And the ball just jumps out of his hand. So he’s definitely a bright spot on the horizon for us as well.”
Lavallee was asked about how much input he has when it comes to promoting players.
“The Blue Jays do a terrific job with collaboration and making sure all voices are heard and people get, you know, the right platform to express their feelings. And so yeah, we’ve turned in promotion sheets on all these guys and we talk about if they’re ready to move up and why and why not. There is a ton of communication and ultimately, you know, the front office will decide and that’s what their job is. But we definitely add information from things we see on the field, off the field, to how his work’s been, how his attitude’s been. And yeah, there’s no mistake when these guys move, it’s a really complete process and we all holistically get the chance to help out and give our opinions.”
The C’s skipper was asked to share his thoughts on the debut of C’s pitcher Jauron Watts-Brown in Everett on Thursday.
“I didn’t know too much about him. He didn’t pitch much, or even at all, last year after the draft. I think he was possibly shut down. So not a whole lot on him after that, but obviously we know these guys coming up. So you watch them MILB TV, or you watch their stat lines when they’re performing down there in Low-A. He did a good job. Ball jumped out of his hand. He was just maybe a little amped up and didn’t have the best command but I still think he had six strikeouts over four innings, pitched with traffic all night. I don’t think we saw his best, but we’re actually pretty excited to see what he is when he’s completely locked in, comfortable, and he’s got his routines set down now that he’s here but he made some good hitters look pretty frustrated last night.”
Connor O’Halloran‘s arrival to Vancouver was another topic that was raised.
“A reliable starter. You know what you’re gonna get. He’s gonna be in the zone. He’s gonna be attacking hitters with off-speed, you know, fastballs and off-speed all game. Really good pitch mix. And I think he’s made five, six starts for us. And it almost seems like it’s just really good. And then something seems to pop up in the next one, whether it’s poor defense, poor conditions, bounces just not going his way. But we really liked what we’ve seen out of Connor to start. Just from a manager’s perspective and the guy is going to go out there and give you everything he’s got for his whole outing. And then when the time’s up, he’ll turn the ball over to the bullpen and let them do their job. So the reliability factor there is huge for us.”
In terms of developing players, Lavallee was asked about how to address a player’s strengths and weaknesses.
“Yeah, it is tricky. And it is one of those things like they’re gonna have to compete through it. So now we just do our best. Some of these guys come in with two or three years of college and university baseball underneath their belts. And so sometimes those guys are a little more mature and you can attack some things that you maybe can’t with other 21-year-olds. But you just really gotta feel the guy and understand that we’re here for development in the moment and to compete at the same time. And as we breed that good culture of development and winning, that’ll make its effect on the rest of the org as these guys continue to climb.”
The swing and miss stuff from new C’s reliever Kai Peterson was also discussed.
“It’s electric. The fastball just jumps out of the hand. It is not a comfortable at bat. And, and I have only watched him from a hundred feet from the side. So it’s not a place you want to be. Maybe you might say a little effectively wild with it as well sometimes, which kind of contributes to that uncomfortable at-bat feeling. But yeah, after first glance, looking forward to having him out there and comfortable with us and seeing what he’s capable of going forward.”
One player Lavallee sees moving on in the near future is center fielder Dasan Brown.
“Dasan right now is as good as he’s ever been. Been lucky enough to be around him for probably four years now of my five in the org. He keeps polishing every year, getting more refined. The biggest strides this year have been he’s 14-for-15 on the bases, I think. It’s not as many attempts as you’d like but there are the right attempts at the right times. He’s not taking chances in situations where he’s gonna score from second on a ground ball anyway. So refraining from taking third base and possibly get caught. So just as decision making, the arm continues to improve tremendously, tremendous improvement from where he was as an 18-year-old or a 19-year-old left. He’s a leader. He makes the offense go. He’s slugging, you know, .400- plus right now and just playing shutdown center field. I mean, he’s an incredible athlete to watch and I have a feeling he might be moving eventually pretty soon, but we’re going to enjoy him while he’s here and just continue to watch him run around on there and flag anything down in the outfield.”
The final question centered around Lavallee’s development as a manager and helping players get to the next level.
“I think it’s just patience and understanding, you know, the path and the plan, you know, getting better working with really good staff members. I’ve worked with Ryan (Ryan Wright) right now for three years, our hitting coach, and there’s no secret to our success with a guy like that running our offense and getting our players ready to hit at this level and beyond. It’s just patience, it’s understanding some more run values and just trying to educate these guys on the fast-paced decisions they have to make as they continue to climb these levels. And with the guys that we’re seeing up there right now, like Berroa (Steward Berroa) and Jiménez (Leo Jiménez) and Barger (Addison Barger) and Orelvis (Orelvis Martinez) at times, it’s very important that these guys learn some big lessons here because they’re a year to two years away. And that’s kind of maybe been the biggest thing that I’ve learned over the past two, three years is really just how close a guy is when he’s playing well for the Vancouver Canadians to impacting the Toronto Blue Jays in the next year or two.”
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