The Vancouver Canadians lost 6-5 to the Tri-City Dust Devils in 10 innings at Nat Bailey Stadium on Friday.
Vancouver got the scoring started in the second against Joel Hurtado. Nick Goodwin doubled to left field with one out and Je’Von Ward drew a walk. Jacob Sharp would single to center to bring in Goodwin. Ward was left at third when Marcos De La Rosa fouled out to third.
The Dust Devils solved Kendry Rojas in the fourth inning. Sonny DiChiara slammed a long single off the right field wall with one out before Kevin Bruggeman cleared the wall in left-center for a two-run home run to take a 2-1 lead.
The Canadians loaded the bases against Hurtado when Jace Bohrofen singled up the gut, Goodwin was hit in the back and Ward walked. Dylan Phillips replaced Hurtado and he issued a one-out walk by Sharp that brought in Bohorfen to tie it at 2-2. The bags were left loaded when De La Rosa popped to second and Victor Arias was caught looking at strike three.
The Dust Devils pulled ahead in the top of the eighth. Irv Carter walked Joe Redfield and scored when Werner Blakely tripled down the line in right. Carter looked to have struck out Sonny DiChiara but home plate umpire Trey Ward did not give Carter the call. The next pitch resulted in a sacrifice fly to left to score Blakely. To rub more salt in the wound, Bruggeman then belted his second homer of the day to left-center to put the Double-D’s up by three.
The Canadians rallied in the home half of the eighth against Leonard Garcia. Ward and Brennan Orf started the inning with walks and Sharp homered to left field for a three-run shot to tie the game at 5-5.
In the top of the 10th, Redfield was the placed runner with Aaron Munson on the hill for the C’s. Munson got ahead of Caleb Ketchup at 0-2 but Ketchup grounded out to second to move Redfield to third. A slow roller to short by Blakely allowed Redfield to score as Goodwin had no choice but to throw the ball to first to get the out. That saddled Munson with the loss.
C-Notes
Canadians pitching coach Austin Bibens-Dirks and bullpen coach Carson Phillips could have gone for some coffee and donuts for the first couple of innings. That’s because Rojas gave them a dream start. The mantra for all pitching coaches is throw strikes and that’s exactly what Rojas did as his first 17 pitches were strikes. The Cuban lefty started the game by fanning Redfield and Ketchup as part of a nine-pitch first inning. It was a quick inning as the game started at 1:03 p.m. and the top of the first ended at 1:06.
A single to left by Vera with two outs in the second was all Rojas surrendered as he bracketed that with strikeouts of Bruggeman swinging and Mac McCroskey looking.
Rojas got around a two-out Redfield walk in the third and a two-out Redfield knock to left in the fifth by fanning Landon Wallace before and Ketchup after.
Rojas surrendered a Blakely double to right but rallied to get the next three men he faced, striking out Vera to complete six innings.
Carter had a clean seventh inning that featured a strikeout of Alberto Rios on a foul-tip.
Kai Peterson got away with a one-out walk to Rios by striking out McCroskey and Redfield to end the ninth.
The C’s first at-bat featured just three batters. Cutter Coffey grounded a single to center with one out but he would doubled up on a fly ball to center by Williams for an inning-ending 8-3 twin killing.
A Williams two-out walk in the third and a two-out walk to Orf and a Sharp hit-by-pitch in the fourth were left stranded by Hurtado. In the seventh, a Williams one-out single in the seventh against Leonard Garcia was also left on.
Vancouver had a golden opportunity to win it in the bottom of the ninth. Roman Phansalkar walked Williams and Bohrofen to begin the frame but Goodwin hit into a 4-6-3 double play. Williams was left at third when Ward grounded out to second.
Grant Rogers is scheduled to make his C’s debut against Tri-City on Saturday. Game time is 7:05 p.m. on CanadiansBaseball.com and MiLB.TV.
C-Changes
The tall foreheads in the Toronto Blue Jays minor league department left the Canadians short-handed for Friday’s game by releasing four players. Lefthander Naswell Paulino, righthander Rafael Ohashi and infielders Estiven Machado and Jeff Wehler were released. That effectively tied the hands of C’s manager Brent Lavallee from making any late-game substitutions on the position player side on Friday with Jackson Hornung as the only reserve infielder/catcher, Dasan Brown as the lone reserve outfielder and Nic Deschamps as a backup catcher. Unless there was an injury, no lineup changes were going to be made.
Former C’s infielder Miguel Hiraldo (2022) and catcher Kekai Rios (2023-2024) were also let go by Toronto from Triple-A Buffalo. Utility man Glenn Santiago (2022-2024) and righthander Juan Nuñez (2017-2019, 2022-23) were also given the pink slip from Double-A New Hampshire.
Paulino has been with the C’s for the 2022-2024 campaigns, save for one cup of coffee at Double-A New Hampshire last year. The 24-year-old Dominican was 4-0 with a 5.20 earned run average with a save, a hold and 27 strikeouts against 16 walks in 27-2/3 innings.
Wehler batted .259 in 64 games with six home runs, six doubles and 25 runs batted in. He was 9-for-12 in the stolen base department. The 25-year-old from St Marys, Pennsylvania will be fondly remembered for a couple of key defensive plays at second base to help the Canadians win Game 1 of the 2023 Northwest League Championship Series in Everett. It is the blog’s fervent belief that Wehler’s diving catch near the right field foul line in the first inning from second base was the turning point of the series in which the C’s won in four games.
Like Paulino and Wehler, Machado was also a part of the C’s championship club in 2023. The 21-year-old Venezuelan batted .191 with two homers among his 10 extra-base hits in 67 games and drove in 17 runs. Ohashi started 2024 with 10 scoreless appearances. The 21-year-old Brazilian was 2-0 with a 4.10 ERA with a 32-23 K/BB total in 37-1/3 innings.
Rios, also part of the 2023 championship squad, appeared in just two games with Vancouver this season after getting hurt trying to break up a double play at second base. He also made stops with the Florida Complex League Blue Jays, the Dunedin Blue Jays and the New Hampshire Fisher Cats this season.
Hiraldo made it to Triple-A but batted just .205 with Buffalo over 27 games after starting the year in New Hampshire. He had a bounce-back year with the Fisher Cats by racking up 21 doubles and 12 homers with 54 RBI and 16 stole bases in 2023 but could not sustain that level of performance in 2024.
Santiago joined the C’s in time for their two playoff runs and will always be remember for his leaping catch near the left field fence to take away a home run from Hillsboro last September. Nuñez was able to dial up his fastball to triple digits on occasion at The Nat.
All the best to these players in their future endeavours.
One other note, 2023-2024 C’s righthander Kevin Miranda has been assigned to Low-A Dunedin.
Radar Gun Rundown
Kendry Rojas checked in at 82-97 miles per hour with strikeouts of 86, 95, 85, 96, 93, 94, 84, 85 and 94. Irv Carter was at 87-95 and had strikeouts at 92 and 89. Kai Peterson was at 84 and had two Ks of 94. Aaron Munson was at 86-94.
C-Tweets
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