The Vancouver Canadians rallied for a 3-2 win in 11 innings over the Everett AquaSox on Saturday.
The AquaSox struck first in the fifth inning against C’s starter Grant Rogers. A leadoff double to left-center by Hunter Fitz-Gerald was moved around the bases on a pair of fly ball outs to center by Freuddy Batista and Axel Sánchez.
The Canadians evened the score in the seventh inning. Frogs reliever Allan Saathoff stru;ck out Jackson Hornung looking on a 3-2 pitch that Hornung did not agree with. However, Vancouver’s fortunes changed when Jay Harry hammered a 2-2 from Saathoff over the right field wall.
Nick Goodwin singled to center, went to second on a wild pitch and got to third on a Je’Von Ward fly ball to center. Lefthander Holden Laws took over for Saathoff and walked Brennan Orf. Alex Stone came off the bench to pinch-hit for Marcos De La Rosa but flew out to right field for the third out.
Everett would go ahead again in the top of the 10th inning when Freuddy Batista singled to center to score Hunter Fitz-Gerald who was the placed runner at second base. Batista got to second on a Sánchez tapper to the mound but did not go any further. Thurman got Colin Davis to foul out to Goodwin at third and Michael Arroyo grounded out to Goodwin to send the game to the 10th inning.
Bryce Arnold—who replaced De La Rosa at second base—was successful on his second bunt attempt to advance Orf to third base as Everett reliever Tyler Cleveland had no other play but to throw out Arnold at first. Jace Bohrofen then ripped a pitch down the right field line for an RBI single to score Orf. Jacob Sharp flew out to center and Peyton Williams struck out swinging to extend the game into the 11th inning.
Thurman struck out Colt Emerson and Jared Sundstrom swinging but a passed ball by Sharp allowed the placed runner Arroyo to get to third. Thurman would keep Arroyo there when he retired Caleb Cali on a fly ball to right field.
Cleveland was back on the mound for Everett in the 11th but not for long. Just two pitches in, Hornung lofted a double that landed fair down the right field line and that scored the placed runner Williams with the winning run.
C-Notes
Hornung was the C’s first baserunner when he reached first on a fielding error by Cali at third but Everett starter Nick Payero got the three hitters to end the second inning.
Sharp had a two-out walk in the third and Hornung had the first Vancouver knock with a single to center just underneaeth a diving Emerson at short. Harry would hit into a 3-6-1 double play to squelch that rally.
That was all the Vancouver offence could do against Payero and they were glad he was gone after six innings.
In the eighth inning, Bohrofen was robbed of extra bases when Jared Sundstrom made a leaping catch near the center field wall. Sharp would single to center but that was all the C’s could muster.
Harry looked like he was going to end the game in the ninth but Davis flagged down a drive to the left field warning track just in front of the short fence. Stefan Raeth—who got the final out of the eighth inning—walked Ward with two outs before sending the game into extras.
Rogers registered his first strikeout by getting Emerson swinging before giving up an infield single to third by Sundstrom in a scoreless first. In the second, Batista had a two-out single to left but Rogers sandwiched that with a called strikeout of Fitz-Gerald and a swinging strikeout of Sánchez.
An infield single by Davis led off the third and Rogers fell behind Arroyo in the count 3-0 before battling back to fill the count and getting the at-bat to end in a fly out to right. Davis was thrown out stealing by Sharp on a 2-6 play.
Rogers got Emerson to ground out to second to make it a three-batter inning.
Rogers had a clean fourth that included a strikeout of Cali and fanned Cali looking to end the sixth to strand a one-out single to ccenter by Emerson. In the seventh, Rogers finished with another perfect frame which ended with a punchout of Batista.
Kai Peterson bookend a spotless eight by striking out Sanchez swinging and Arroyo looking.
The ninth was more of a challenge for Peterson. He snared a comebacker by Emerson to start a 1-3 putout on the first pitch of the inning. After Sundstrom flew out to center, Cali singled to left and Knight walked but Peterson struck out Fitz-Gerald looking.
The C’s look to win the series for this week and for the season against the AquaSox on Sunday. Pat Gallagher will pitch for the C’s at 1:05 p.m. Tyler Zickel and Chris Georges will have the call with a special appearance by official scorekeeper Mike Hanafin on CanadiansBaseball.com and MiLB.TV.
C-Changes
Lefthanded pitcher JJ Sanchez has been promoted to Vancouver from Low-A Dunedin. He was signed as a free agent by the Toronto Blue Jays on July 20, 2023. The Los Fresnos, Texas native pitched for San Jacinto College and Southeastern University and saw time with the Williamsport Crosscutters of the MLB Draft League in 2022. The 5-foot-11, 175-pound lefty struck out 65 batters in 37-2/3 innings and went 5-0 with a 1.91 earned run average as a starter and reliever with Southeastern in 2023.
Sanchez made his pro debut with five innings at Dunedin in 2023 and returned to the D-Jays in 2024. He went 6-4 with a 3.11 ERA with five saves and had a K/BB total of 52-35 in 46-1/3 innings. The 24-year-old will be wearing number 19 with the Canadians.
Radar Gun Rundown
Grant Rogers was at 80-94 miles per hour with strikeouts at 81, 94, 82, 84, 90 and 83.
Kai Peterson was at 85-97 with Ks of 95, 85, 95 and Grayson Thurman was at 82-91 with strikeouts of 81 and 91.
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