The Vancouver Canadians blanked the Tri-City Dust Devils 2-0 at Nat Bailey Stadium on Tuesday.
The only run the C’s needed came in the fifth when Jacob Sharp swatted the first pitch of the inning from Dust Devils starter Houston Harding over the left field fence.
Dasan Brown did the heavy lifting for the insurance run in the eighth. The Oakville Flash got a one-out hustle double against Glenn Albanese Jr. as he was able to adroitly avoid the tag at second. A Jackson Hornung groundout to second got Brown over to third and a passed ball by Juan Flores allowed Brown to slide home safely.
C-Notes
Pat Gallagher had to gut his way through a long first inning. Adrian Placencia started the game with a base hit to right but Gallagher was able to pick him off at first base. Caleb Ketchup drew a walk, stole second and was joined on the basepaths by Werner Blakely who worked the count to ball four. Gallagher rallied by striking out Sonny DiChiara looking and Flores swinging to get out of trouble.
The former UConn Husky was able to get rolling after a 26-pitch first inning by setting down 10 Dust Devils in a row. Gallagher fanned Mac McCroskey to start the second and sat down Placencia and Ketchup to end the third. That was after Nick Goodwin made a diving catch at third base on a broken-bat pop-up by Landon Wallace.
The fourth began with a whiff of Blakely but the Dust Devils got a two-out infield hit to short by Flores. A wild pitch put Flores at second but Gallagher stranded him by striking out McCroskey.
A one-out infield single to third by Alberto Rios, a stolen base and a two-out walk by Placencia were stranded when Gallagher struck out Ketchup with his 94th and final pitch.
Alex Amalfi began his outing by striking out DiChiara looking and Flores swinging to end a perfect sixth. The former UMass-Boston hurler struck out Vera and stranded a two-out single to right by Rios in the seventh. Amalfi finished his outing by handling a comebacker to the mound by Placencia before fanning Ketchup and getting Blakely looking to end a spotless eighth.
Chay Yeager entered the game in the ninth and gave up a two-out knock to right by McCroskey before striking out Vera to end the game.
Brown was robbed of a hit in the bottom of the first when Vera climbed the ladder for a leaping grab at third.
Jace Bohrofen had the first C’s hit of the night with a leadoff single to center in the second inning. Nobody reached base for Vancouver until Bohrofen’s next turn at the dish in which he drew a two-out walk in the fourth.
Jeff Wehler walked in the fifth with one away and Peyton Williams blooped a double near the left field line over the head of Vera to send Harding out of the game with one out in the sixth. Marcos Neither runner would get any further as Carlos Espinosa sat down all five hitters he faced. Williams had a base hit in the eighth after the run-scoring passed ball but pinch-runner Marcos De La Rosa was thrown out by Flores on a 2-4 play to end the inning. De La Rosa remained in the game to play left field, moving Brennan Orf over to first base to replace Williams in the top of the ninth.
Jauron Watts-Brown will make his first start at Nat Bailey Stadium for Monty’s Mounties on Wednesday. First pitch is at 7:05 p.m. on CanadiansBaseball.com and MiLB.TV.
C-Changes
There are a number of new faces on the Canadians roster after the MLB trade deadline. Shortstop Jay Harry has been assigned to Vancouver after being acquired from the Minnesota Twins by the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for reliever Trevor Richards. The 22-year-old Harry was selected in the sixth round of the 2023 MLB Draft by the Twins out of Penn State where he was a teammate of C’s reliever Conor Larkin. The 5-foot-11, 190-pound left-handed hitter was at High-A Cedar Rapids where he collected 23 extra-base hits and 39 RBI and posted a .655 OPS in 82 games.
Catcher Jacob Sharp—part of the Yimi Garcia trade with Seattle—made his debut on Tuesday and is wearing number 23, vacated by Rafael Sánchez after the Cuban righthander was promoted to Double-A New Hampshire.
Infielder Cutter Coffey—picked up from Boston in the Danny Jansen deal—will be wearing number 21. That number belonged to Jean Arnaez but the 21-year-old infielder was given his release by the Jays. In 51 games with Vancouver, the Panamanian had eight doubles, two homers and 12 RBI along with a .607 OPS.
Outfielder Dylan Rock was also let go by the Jays. The 25-year-old from Sugar Land, Texas had 14 extra-base knocks with 26 RBI and a .565 OPS in 71 games with the C’s. Toronto signed him as a free agent out of Texas A&M in 2022. All the best to Jean Arnaez and Dylan Rock in their future endeavours.
Catcher Robert Brooks is joining Sánchez in New Hampshire. The 25-year-old Marietta, Georgia man batted .262/.340/.476 with four homers and 10 RBI in 22 games with Vancouver. His number 22 will now be worn by outfielder Victor Arias who was promoted from Low-A Dunedin. The 20-year-old left-handed hitter from Maracay, Venezuela had 30 extra-base hits, 40 RBI and an OPS of .840 in 76 games with the D-Jays. He joined the Jays as a free agent in 2019.
Quebec City native and catcher Nicolas Deschamps will be wearing number 26 for Vancouver and righthander Grant Rogers has been assigned number 40.
Radar Gun Rundown
Pat Gallagher was at 79-92 miles per hour with strikeouts at 89, 91, 89, 91, 88, 89, 90 and 82.
Alex Amalfi had strikeouts at 77, 84, 94, 93 and 89 and touched 97. Chay Yeager was at 87-98.
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 