The Vancouver Canadians fell to the Hillsboro Hops at Hillsboro Ballpark 5-2 on Saturday and 2-1 on Sunday.
On Saturday, the Canadians took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Brennan Orf doubled to left field with one out before Je’Von Ward ripped an RBI single up the middle off Hops starter Roman Angelo.
A pair of defensive miscues burned C’s starter Rafael Sánchez in the fourth. Though C’s second baseman Jean Arnaez was calling for the ball that was popped up by Jack Hurley in shallow right field, Orf bumped into him and dropped the ball. A Gino Groover single to right got Hurley over to third. Gavin Conticello grounded out to first but C’s shortstop Estiven Machado whiffed on the throw to second by Peyton Williams. Hurley would score on the play to tie the game at 1-1. José Fernandez drove in Groover with a base hit to right to put the Hops ahead.
Vancouver would tie the game in the fifth when Jeff Wehler blooped a single out of the reach of Hops second baseman Manny Peña to shallow right field. An Angelo balk and a two-out single to center by Dasan Brown got Wehler around the bases for the tying run. Brown also stole second and Jace Bohrofen walked but they would be left on.
Hillsboro regained the lead in the sixth. A walk to Groover, a single to center by Conticello and a sacrifice bunt by Fernández set the table for a Christian Cerda ground ball that handcuffed Machado at short for an error to score Groover.
The Hops closed out the scoring in the seventh against Grayson Thurman. A Peña single to center field and a Junior Franco knock to right put runners at the corners. A Hurley sac fly to center allowed Peña to tag up and run home.
On Sunday, the C’s scored first again when Williams hit a ground-rule double to left and scored on a Bohrofen base hit to center off Hops starter Jacob Steinmetz with one away in the third. Bohrofen stole second base with one out and tried to score on a throwing error by Cerda but Bohrofen was cut down at the plate on a 5-1-2 play to end the inning.
Hillsboro got on the board in the seventh against Alex Amalfi. A one-out walk and a two-out stolen base by Tommy Troy when Lyle Lin haunted his former mates with a base hit to right.
The Hops grabbed the lead in the eighth against Aaron Munson. A leadoff walk by Peña was pushed to third on a double to left by Groover. Munson struck out Hurley before handing out an intentional walk to Conticello to load the bases and set up a force play at every base. The move backfired when Munson plunked Troy to bring home Peña.
C-Notes
On Saturday, the C’s had a single and a triple in the eighth but were held off the scoreboard. Bohrofen singled to right but was thrown out at second base to open the inning. Robert Brooks then tripled when Wildred Patiño lost sight of the ball in center field with two outs but Armando Vasquez struck out a pair. He then handed things over to Yordin Chalas with one out in the ninth to complete a perfect frame.
On Sunday, the C’s had a chance for a big first inning after a two-out rally loaded the bases. Williams walked, Bohrofen singled to center and Nick Goodwin singled to right but Steinmetz was able to escape.
A Jackson Hornung double to right with one away in the fifth knocked Steinmetz out of the game. Carlos Meza walked Williams but the C’s could not do a thing with that.
Vancouver’s last hit was a leadoff single by Orf in the sixth against Landon Sims. The last baserunner was a Wehler leadoff walk in the ninith by Alfred Morillo but Wehler would not go any further.
The lack of offence quashed a great effort by Canadians starter Carson Pierce. He struck out Hurley to end a perfect first inning and struck out Conticello swinging and Cerda looking to get out of the second. That stranded Troy at third after drawing a one-out walk.
A one-out walk and steal of second by Franco was neutralized by Pierce in the third after striking out Peña. That punchout was the first of eight hitters in a row retired by Pierce who ended his day by fanning Lin.
Chay Yeager struck out Franco to begin the sixth and would strand a one-out walk by Peña to end the frame. Johnathan Lavallee was called on to get the last out of the eighth as Cerda flew out to center to leave the bases loaded.
Congratulations to 2019 and 2021 C’s infielder Luis De Los Santos on his promotion to the Toronto Blue Jays. The 26-year-old from Bajos de Haina in the Dominican Republic signed with the Jays as a free agent on July 2, 2015. De Los Santos is coming off a pair of rehab stints with the Florida Complex League and Dunedin Blue Jays. He had a .393 on-base percentage in 28 games with Triple-A Buffalo this year.
The C’s begin a 12-game homestand in which they host Tri-City and Eugene at Nat Bailey Stadium. First up, it’s the Dust Devils with the series opener set for 7:05 p.m. There’s no word yet on who will throw the first pitch for Vancouver. The game is on CanadiansBaseball.com and MiLB.TV.
C-Changes
Quebec City’s Nicolas Dechamps has been promoted from Low-A Dunedin to Vancouver according to the transactions column. The 21-year-old left-handed-hitting catcher joined the Toronto Blue Jays as a free agent out of TNXL Academy in Longwood, Florida in 2021. The 5-foot-11, 180-pound Deschamps racked up 10 extra-base hits and 17 runs batted in over 33 games with the D-Jays with a .764 OPS.
It appears pitcher Grant Rogers will be joining Deschamps from Dunedin according to the tweet below.
Rogers was selected in the 11th round of the 2023 MLB Draft by Toronto out of McNeese State, the same college 2015 C’s utility man Andrew Guillotte attended. The 6-foot-7, 230-pound righthander made his pro debut with Dunedin this season and logged a 4.26 ERA while striking out 70 batters and walking 24 over 74 innings.
The 23-year-old Rogers is expected to fill in for Rafael Sánchez who is moving up to Double-A New Hampshire according to this tweet.
The transactions page also shows shortstop Cutter Coffey—picked up from Boston in the Danny Jansen deal and catcher Jacob Sharp—acquired in the Yimi Garcia trade to Seattle—being assigned to Vancouver. Coffey was Boston’s 2022 second-round pick out of Liberty High School in Bakersfield, California and Sharp was taken by Seattle in the 15th round of 2023 out of the University of Nevada-Las Vegas. Interestingly, their status on their MiLB.com player pages is listed as ‘Not Yet Reported’. Perhaps neither player has their passport as of yet.
With Deschamps and Sharp being assigned to Vancouver, the C’s currently have five catchers on the roster in Jommer Hernández, Jackson Hornung and Robert Brooks. The Blue Jays minor league staff will have a lot on their plate in trying to sort this out.
The Blue Jays also acquired a recent member of the Everett AquaSox in outfielder RJ Schreck as he was the return in the Justin Turner trade to Seattle. Schreck was recently promoted to Double-A Arkansas after racking up 20 doubles and 12 homers for Everett to go along with an OPS of .864 in 78 contests. There’s no word yet on where Schreck will be assigned to.
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