The Vancouver Canadians rallied from a 3-1 series deficit to split their six-game series against the Everett AquaSox at Funko Field.

C's Recap

April 22 – Everett 3 Vancouver 2
HR – Ward (1), Pinto (1), 3B – Arias (1) | Rogers 5IP 1R 6K, Garkow 2IP 0R 5K

April 23 – Vancouver 4 Everett 2
HR – Parker (2), 2B – Keys (2) | Wentworth 5IP 1R 8K, Todd 2IP 1R 2K (W, 1-0), Bonds 2IP 0R 2K (SV, 2)

April 24 – Everett 4 Vancouver 3
HR – Hornung (1), Pinto (4) | Watts-Brown 4.1IP 2R 6K, Gallagher 2IP 0R 5K 2IRS

April 25 – Everett 12 Vancouver 3
HR – Nimmala (3), 2B – Wetzel (1) | Ortiz 1.2IP 0R 3K 1IRS, Munson 2IP 0R 1K

April 26 – Vancouver 10 Everett 1
HR – Keys (2) , Coffey (3), Nimmala (4), Cunningham (1), 2B – Coffey (2) | Perez 4IP 1R 4K, Yeager (W, 1-1) 2IP 0R 4K, Garkow 3IP 0R 3K (SV, 1).

April 27 – Vancouver 9 Everett 8 (10 Innings)
2B – Coffey 2 (4), Arias (6), Orf (2), Micheletti (4), HR – Nimmala (5) | Todd 1.2IP 0R 1K 2IRS, Sánchez 1IP 0R 2K, Peterson 1.1IP 0R 1K (W, 1-0)

C-Notes

C's Notes

A million thanks to Mike MacCulloch, Director of Corporate Partnerships, Marketing and Media Relations for the Everett AquaSox for granting media credentials for Sunday’s series finale and also a million thanks to play-by-play announcer Pat Dillon and in-game host Steve Willits for their hospitality as well.

Sunday’s game was quite a see-saw affair where things looked good early for Monty’s Mounties thanks to an Arjun Nimmala home run to straight away center field off Evan Truitt in the first inning. I did not realize it was a home run at the time as I was in the first base camera bay. It was only until Nimmala trotted into second that I put two and two together because it was eerily quiet at the park. Vancouver would pad its lead on an RBI double by Cutter Coffey to left and an RBI single to right field by Carter Cunningham to make it 3-0 C’s after 2-1/2 innings.

Grant Rogers started the game with five straight ground ball outs and ended the second inning with a strikeout. The tall Texan retired the first two men he faced in the bottom of the third but a walk, a single by Colt Emerson and a double by Tai Peete cut the Vancouver lead to 3-2.

The fourth inning saw Rogers alternate between a double, an out, a single and another out. He was ahead in the count at 1-and-2 before Anthony Donofrio singled in the tying run and Axel Sánchez singled two pitches later to put Everett ahead 5-3.

Vancouver got one run back in the top of the fifth when they loaded the bases with one out after Nimmala reached on a throwing error at third in which the first baseman was pulled off the bag. Carter Cunningham singled and Brennan Orf took one for the team before Alex Stone lifted a sacrifice fly to center.

Rogers walked the first two men he faced before registering a strikeout of Lazaro Montes. Johnathan Todd came in and stranded both runners to keep it a one-run game after five. Tyler Cleveland and his funky arm angle and Stefan Raeth held Vancouver at bay over the next three frames while Todd and JJ Sánchez took care of business in the sixth and seventh innings. Bo Bonds began the eighth and got the first two men out before Milkar Perez belted a homer to right-center field to make it 6-4 Everett.

The Canadians fought back with a big two-out rally in the ninth against Charlie Beilenson. Nick Goodwin dropped a single into right field and Victor Arias and Nimmala both singled to left to load the bases with one away. With two outs, Cunningham drew a walk to score Nimmala before Orf cleared the bags with a three-run double to catapult Vancouver to an 8-6 lead.

The C’s were unable to lock it down in the bottom of the ninth as the AquaSox fought back with a pair of runs. A Peete double scored an Emerson single with one out. Controversy then followed when Everett skipper Zach Vincej took exception to what looked to be a checked swing against Frogs cleanup hitter Freuddy Batista. Instead, a strike was called, and base umpire Theo Arndt ejected Vincej from the game. Batista would foul out to first for the second out and that would be it for Bonds. Kai Peterson was summoned from the Vancouver bullpen to face Montes in a lefty-lefty matchup. Montes would drive in Peete with the tying run on a sinking liner that eluded a diving Jacob Wentzel in right field as the ball rolled all the way to the fence. Peterson would send the game to an extra frame by striking out swinging Luis Suisbel.

A Wetzel ground ball to second moved placed runner Stone to third base with one out before Eddie Micheletti came through with a two-out double off the wall just beyond the reach of a leaping Montes. That scored Stone with the go-ahead run.

Everett would not go away quietly in the 10th against Peterson. Je’Von Ward came into the game in right field to replace Wetzel and made the catch for the second out on a fly ball by Perez. Donorfio was hit by a pitch to put the potential go-ahead run on first but Peterson got Axel Sánchez to hit into an unassisted fielder’s choice to Coffey at third, forcing out placed runner and pinch-runner Carson Jones for the final out.

Vancouver were walked off twice and were blown out but deserve full credit for bouncing back with a blowout win of their own and two comeback victories.

The starting rotation for the C’s this week against Hillsboro is listed as Jackson Wentworth on Tuesday, Juaron Watts-Brown on Wednesday, TBD on Thursday, Fernando Perez on Friday, Grant Rogers on Saturday and Wentworth again for the Sunday series finale. Tuesday to Thursday’s games are at 7:05 pm and the Friday to Sunday games are set for 1:05 pm on CanadiansBaseball.com and BallySports.com with Tyler Zickel, Chris Georges and Rob Fai in the bullpen.

Vancouver Canadians Matt Svanson

This one slipped right past me, but a belated congratulations to 2022-2023 Vancouver Canadians righthander Matt Svanson for making it to The Show! The 26-year-old from Lake Zurich, Illinois was called up by the St. Louis Cardinals from the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds on April 16 after allowing just one run over 5-2/3 innings to begin the year. Svanson made his MLB debut with a scoreless inning against the host New York Mets on April 17. His home debut came on April 27 against the Milwaukee Brewers where he struck out Isaac Collins to strand a runner en route to retiring all five batters he faced. Svanson was traded by the Toronto Blue Jays to St. Louis for shortstop Paul De Jong on August 1, 2023.

C-Changes

C's Changes Roster Notes

Utilityman Jay Harry was promoted to Double-A New Hampshire on April 25 and outfielder Carter Cunningham was activated from the Development List. Harry joined the C’s in early August after being traded by the Minnesota Twins to Toronto for pitcher Trevor Richards. The 22-year-old Harry batted .277 and slugged .489 with two home runs and 10 runs batted in over 12 games with Vancouver this year. The left-handed hitter is off to a good start with the Fisher Cats with four hits in his first 10 at-bats.

Other notable transactions involving former C’s players from April 22-29.

  • RHP Anders Tolhurst promoted from Double-A New Hampshire to Buffalo
  • OF Dasan Brown + Cade Doughty activated off 7-day injured list for New Hampshire
  • OF Devonte Brown + Nic Deschamps transferred to Development List for New Hampshire
  • INF Michael Turconi placed on 7-day injured for Triple-A Buffalo
  • RHP Paxton Schultz assigned to Buffalo from Toronto.

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C’s Plus Baseball strives to deliver plus coverage of the C’s through photos, observations and interviews of the players striving to make it to the major leagues. If you like what you see here, please spread the word about CsPlusBaseball.ca through your favourite social media platform. This blog began just before the C's championship season in 2017 and the goal is to deliver awesome content about Canada’s only affiliated professional minor league baseball club. Thanks a million for being here!

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