The Vancouver Canadians won their first six-game set of the season by taking five of six against the Hillsboro Hops at Nat Bailey Stadium.
Tuesday, May 27 – Vancouver 15 Hillsboro 4
2B – Hornung (3), Cunningham (5), Micheletti (8), Nimmala (13), SB – Nimmala (4) | Perez 6IP 2R 3K (W, 3-3), Ortiz 2IP 0R 3K
Wednesday, May 28 – Vancouver 9 Hillsboro 5
2B – Parker (9), Hornung (4), 3B – Arias (2), SB – Arias (7), Nimmala (5) | Stephen 5IP 3R 1K (W, 1-0), Bonds 2IP 0R 1K
Thursday, May 29 – Hillsboro 3 Vancouver 2
2B – Micheletti (9) | Wentworth 5.1IP 1R 3K, Yeager 2IP 0R 1K
Friday, May 30 – Vancouver 8 Hillsboro 1
HR – Micheletti 2 (6), 3B – Hornung (2), 2B – Nimmala (14) | Batista 3IP 1R 1K, Carter 3IP 0R 3K (W, 2-1), Sánchez 1IP 0R 2K, Peterson 1IP 0R 2K, Todd 1IP 0R 1K
Saturday, May 31 – Vancouver 1 Hillsboro 0
2B – Hornung (5) | Yesavage 4.1IP 0R 5K, Bonds 0.2IP 0R 2IRS (W, 1-1), Stanifer 4IP 0R 7K (SV, 1).
Sunday, June 1 – Vancouver 7 Hillsboro 6 (10 Innings)
HR – Goodwin (4), 2B – Coffey (7), Arias 2 (8) | Perez 5.1IP 2R 4K, Sanchez 1IP 0R, Yeager (W, 2-2) 2IP 0R
C-Notes
Condolences to the family and friends of 2022-2023 Canadians pitcher Chad Dallas, whose father Tony passed away on May 16 after a battle with ALS.
Tuesday
The C’s got away with some reckless baserunning in their 10-run rally in the second when Carter Cunningham went too far around second after banging a double off the left field fence. However, a throwing error by Hops shortstop Cristofer Torin to get Eddie Micheletti at the plate was off the mark, allowing Cunningham to get to third.
A good piece of baserunning by Victor Arias followed not too long afterwards. Arias singled home the fourth Vancouver run and raced all the way to third on an Arjun Nimmala infield single to third. Nimmala then swiped second base before four consecutive walks by Sean Keys, Aaron Parker, Je’Von Ward and Jackson Hornung produced three runs. Eddie Micheletti then cleared the bags with a three-run double to help the C’s reach double digits.
Nimmala appeared to be robbed of a double with one out in the third inning. He singled to left and tried to turn it into a hustle double. It appeared he beat the tag on a feet-first slide and was not happy with the call, which resulted in a 7-4 putout.
Vancouver was primed for a big fifth inning when they loaded the bases with one out. Arjun Nimmala doubled to right as Hops outfielder Angel Ortiz could not cleanly grab the ball. That led to a Nick Goodwin hit by pitch coming home but Cunningham was caught rounding too far from the third base bag on a 9-6-2-5-3 putout.
Hillsboro reliever Edgar Isea hit 100 and 102 miles per hour on the gun. Contrast that with Ben McLoughlin, who relieved the game and threw pitches at 67 and 69. That’s the second time that McLoughlin, a position player who was at first base, had to mop up in relief against the C’s in a 15-9 Vancouver win on April 29. In his two relief appearances, McLoughlin has pitched 2-1/3 shutout innings with a hit and a walk allowed.
It appears the last time the C’s put up 10 runs in an inning at Nat Bailey Stadium came on July 19, 2015 with a first-inning eruption against the Eugene Emeralds. All nine starters had a hit to contribute to the 20 in the ‘H’ column. Current Cleveland Guardians outfielder Lane Thomas was at second base that day for Monty’s Mounties and drove in four runs, thanks to a three-run double. The nine, one, two and three spots in the batting order did the heavy lifting with JC Cardenas, Andrew Guillotte, and Gunnar Heidt getting three hits apiece and Surrey, BC native Justin Atkinson going 4-for-4. Josh DeGraaf was the winning pitcher in relief of Clinton Hollon, who pitched the first four innings.
You can check out some photos of that glorious Sunday right here and also here.
Wednesday
Khal Stephen‘s first pitch at Nat Bailey Stadium was ripped for a double to right field by Anderdson Rojas and fell behind two balls and no strikes in the count to Cristofer Torin. Catcher Aaron Parker paid a visit to the mound afterwards and Stephen was able to retire Torin on a ground ball to second. A sacrifice fly to left field by Ryan Waldschmidt drove in Rojas, but Stephen kept the damage to one run by getting Ben McLaughlin to foul out to Parker up the third base line.
The second inning went much smoother for Stephen as he needed just three pitches to get the first two batters and six more to retire the side in order.
Eddie Micheletti made a nice running grab to haul in a Gavin Logan fly ball to the warning track in right field to begin the top of the third inning. Though the Hops got a two-out run off Stephen, that catch by Micheletti was a big key to limiting the damage.
Micheletti helped Stephen record a 1-2-3 fourth inning by flagging down an Angel Ortiz fly ball in the right-center field gap for the second out. The former Virginia Tech Hokie also ran down a fly ball off the bat of McLaughlin to help Bo Bonds retire his first hitter in the top of the sixth inning.
McLaughlin would turn the tables on Micheletti by making a nice pick at first base on a sharp ground ball to begin the bottom of the sixth. But Micheletti avenged that by making a diving catch on a sinking liner by McLaughlin for the second out of the eighth inning to help out Aaron Munson. Fittingly, Micheletti recorded the final out of the game by catching a liner from Torin to help Yondrei Rojas finish things up.
Jackson Hornung came close to homering in the fourth inning but his blast to right field hit the top of the wall where the fireworks dates are displayed. His double brought home a Cutter Coffey infield single to short that Torin could not handle.
Je’Von Ward helped Stephen complete five innings for the win with a nice running grab in left-center field for the final out. That stranded a Rojas RBI double at second base.
Torin made a nice play to range over to his right to throw out Hornung on a 6-3 play to start the bottom of the sixth.
Arjun Nimmala continues to be aggressive on the base paths. He stole second base in the sixth inning and made it the rest of the way home on a pair of wild pitches by Joangel Gonzalez. Nimmala scored standing up but nearly collided with the Hops pitcher. Hillsboro catcher and Oyen, Alberta native Gavin Logan tried to flip the ball back to Gonzalez at home but it hit Gonzalez in a place no man wants to be hit.
Thursday
The C’s opted to wear their black uniforms instead of the throwback Thursday jerseys.
Jackson Hornung made a heads-up play at first base in the second inning. Ben McLaughlin doubled to right field to start the inning and moved up to third base on a ground ball to left. Hornung then fielded a ground ball from Angel Ortiz and caught McLaughlin straying too far from third as his throw to Sean Keys completed the 5-3 putout. That helped Jackson Wentworth keep the game scoreless.
Hornung made a nice scoop on a throw from Keys to retire Druw Jones on a broken-bat grounder to third to end the inning and limit the Hops to just a run, stranding Anderdson Rojas at third.
Keys and Hornung teamed up again in the fourth inning. Keys showed good range by getting to a ground ball from Kenny Castillo behind the third base bag and the throw was scooped nicely by Hornung at first in the middle of a 1-2-3 frame for Wentworth.
Eddie Micheletti was hit in the right hand by a pitch from Hops starter Daniel Eagen with two outs in the fourth inning but remained in the game.
Kevin Sim had a flare single to right field to open the fifth, upsetting the PA announcer so much that Rojas, the next batter, was introduced as number 12, Sim’s number. This was immediately corrected to number 26. Cheap hits by the opposition should not count but the good news was Wentworth retiring the next three hitters in order, including an inning-ending punchout of Ryan Waldschmidt.
Nick Goodwin lost the handle on his bat in the fifth inning, as Nic Deschamps had to stay alert in the on-deck circle. The bat bounced off the netting and nobody was hurt. Goodwin would later single to left to lead off the frame.
Another defensive highlight from Hornung came in the fifth inning when he made an over-the-shoulder catch on a McLaughlin fly ball to shallow right with Victor Arias and Gabby Martinez converging on the ball from center and right field, respectively. That was a big out as Jones singled to right past a diving Goodwin at second and Ortiz banged a double off the right field wall to put runners at second and third. Pat Gallagher took over for Wentworth and stranded the runners by retiring the next two hitters, fanning Castilo for the second out.
The seventh inning was an eventful one. A drone was spotted flying above the Nat Bailey Stadium press box, which caused about a five-minute delay. The bewildered PA announcer kindly told the drone to leave, and it eventually did. The drone’s appearance brought to mind the one that appeared above the center field fence during a night game on September 3, 2013. The fans wondered if it was a UFO at the time, but it was a marketing gimmick by the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre at Vanier Park.
Hillsboro manager Mark Reed pointed out the drone’s presence before the inning commenced. One wonders if that threw off Gallagher as he started to throw a few more warmup tosses before action resumed.
The inning started well enough when Hornung was able to snare a high throw from Keys to retire Sim for the first out. It ended when Deschamps threw out McLaughlin trying to steal second. In between, the Hops scored twice when Rojas walked with one out and stole second with two outs. A fielding error by Keys on a Waldschmidt ground ball extended the rally and McLaughlin singled to right to cash in the two runners. The two runs were unearned for Gallagher, who lowered his earned run average to 0.64.
Micheletti was robbed of a hit by Waldschmidt who made a leaping catch in left field to start the bottom of the seventh. Martinez then struck out looking on a 2-2 pitch that was way above the Trackman strike zone.
Vancouver manager José Mayorga came out to calmly plead Martinez’s case but the skipper was tossed by home plate umpire Kaden Tichenor.
Another sharp defensive play from Hornung came in the top of the eighth when he made a nice pick on a sharp grounder by Jones before making the unassisted putout to start the frame.
Oyen, Alberta native Gavin Logan was retired by Chay Yeager on a roller up the first base line for a ‘U1’ on the scorecard. Logan tried to back away from the tag before giving himself up and did not look too pleased afterwards with Yeager.
The Cs tried to rally in the ninth. Hornung and Coffey opened the bottom of the ninth by drawing walks from Hops lefty Carlos Rey. Micheletti doubled to right to bring them home. Martinez base knock to right advanced Micheletti to third but Ortiz got to the ball quickly to prevent Micheletti from scoring. With runners on the corners, Hops shortstop Cristofer Torin snow-coned a catch as Goodwin almost flared a base hit to left field. Despite mound visits by Hops manager Mark Reed and pitcher Tyler Mark, and Sam Knowlton warming in the bullpen, Rey stayed in the game and was able to strand Micheletti and pinch-runner Je’Von Ward on the corners to end it.
Friday
Eddie Micheletti went opposite field for his leadoff homer before going deep to right-center for his grand slam in the second. That was the only hit of the inning as Jackson Hornung and Je’Von Ward drew walks and Nick Goodwin was hit by a pitch by Hillsboro starter John West.
Eddie Micheletti‘s home run ball for the second-inning grand slam was chucked over the fence by Hops center fielder Druw Jones after the ball struck the Return-It Recyling sign just above and beyond the fence in right-center field. Jones was even more frustrated by slamming his bat and batting helmet after striking out against Irv Carter in the fourth inning.
Arjun Nimmala made a nice sliding stop of a ground ball to short before throwing out Jackson Feltner to help Edinson Batista in the midst of a 1-2-3 top of the third inning.
Hornung made a nice diving catch in left-center field to take away a hit from Ben McLaughlin to start the top of the fourth.
Micheletti appeared to have a third base hit of the day by beating out a ground ball to third but base umpire Kaden Tichenor did not agree. That would have rewarded some good baserunning by Gabby Martinez who led off with an infield single to third. He tagged up on consecutive fly outs to center and right field to move up to second and third base respectively.
Saturday
The grounds crew deserve kudos for getting the field ready for a 2:05 pm start time after rain delayed the proceedings. There were quite a few doubts that this game was going to be played and that the highly-anticipated debut of 2024 Blue Jays first round pick Trey Yesavage on the mound. He was almost perfect through four innings, just issuing two-out walks to Jean Walters and Ryan Waldschmidt in the latter two frames, respectively.
A pair of one-out free passes to Kenny Castillo and JJ D’Orazio ended the day for Yesavage after striking out Druw Jones. Bo Bonds came to the rescue by stranding Yesavage’s runners by retiring the only two men he faced.
Hillsboro shortstop Cristofer Torin was injured after a sharp ground ball hit by Aaron Parker went off Torin’s right hand and deflected into left field. Torin was able to continue. Parker’s single moved Arias to third to set up Sean Keys‘ RBI single to right that brought in Arias with the game’s only run.
Gage Stanifer was just as electrifying as Yesavage. He had a three-up, three-down sixth by punching out Ben McLaughlin and Ryan Waldschmidt.
A bloop single to left to start the seventh by Angel Ortiz was wiped out on a 6-4-3 double play by Jones before Castillo struck out swinging.
Stanifer struck out D’Orazio and Torin to bookend the eighth inning, overcoming a two-out Anderdson Rojas walk. A one-out free pass in the ninth by Waldschmidt and a steal of second were stranded by Stanifer in the ninth as he fanned Ortiz and Jones to end it.
With Yesavage, Stanifer and Khal Stephen arriving in Vancouver this week, it brings back memories of Justin Nicolino, Aaron Sánchez and Noah Syndergaard pitching at Nat Bailey Stadium in 2011, the first year of the Toronto Blue Jays affiliation with Monty’s Mounties.
Sunday
Nic Deschamps contributed with the glove and bat in the second inning. He threw out Cristofer Torin to erase a one-out walk on a 2-6 caught stealing in the top half. The Quebec City, Quebec native then singled past a diving Torin to cash in a Cutter Coffey double with two outs to tie the game at 1-1 in the bottom half.
Deschamps tracked down a foul pop-up off the bat of Kevin Sim despite taking a tumble near the third base side of home plate to begin the third inning. That helped keep the bases empty when Jackson Feltner homered to left off Fernando Perez.
Nothing is more exhilarating to this blogger than seeing a pitcher completely bamboozle a hitter with a breaking ball. Perez got his revenge on Feltner by getting him looking at strike three to end the fifth inning.
In the bottom of the fifth, Deschamps was hit in the hand by Hops reliever Nate Savino who entered the game for starter Logan Clayton. He advanced to third base on a Victor Arias double to left. Deschamps rounded the base too far but was able to scramble back in time. After Arjun Nimmala got an intentional walk, Deschamps would later score on a Jackson Hornung infield single to third.
Arias and right fielder Gabby Martinez bumped into each other on a fly ball to right-center from Kevin Sim to start the top of the seventh inning. Martinez made the catch and nobody was hurt. In left field, Je’Von Ward started a 7-2-4-6 putout of Anderdson Rojas to end the inning after Rojas’ double drove in Druw Jones for Hillsboro’s sixth run off Pat Gallagher.
The C’s rallied to tie the game at 6-6 in the eighth inning to overcome a two-run deficit. Nick Goodwin blasted a three-run home run to left field off Ricardo Yan to score a Coffey single to left and a Ward walk. Carter Cunningham reset the rally by battling back from a 0-2 count to single to left and eventually scored the tying run on a wild pitch by lefty Carlos Rey. After a Martinez walk loaded the bases with two outs, it looked like Coffey was going to punctuate the rally after starting it with a drive to deep center field. Instead, Jones foiled those plans with a diving catch in front of the center field manual scoreboard to keep the game knotted at 6-6. I would say it was the best catch I have seen live at Nat Bailey Stadium since coming here in 2012. Jones did his father, former 10-time Gold Glove Atlanta outfielder Andruw Jones, proud with that catch. The younger Jones entered the game as a pinch-runner in the seventh inning for Kevin Sim and scored a run. Jones then took over in center for Rojas, who moved over to third base to cover for Sim. Would Rojas have been able to make the same catch Jones did to end the C’s rally? We’ll never know.
The Canadians shone defensively in the top of the 10th inning. Anderdson Rojas began the frame with a double to left field but Ward and Nimmala teamed up for a 7-6-2 relay to cut down the designated runner Jean Walters at the plate. Rojas got to third on the throw but Nimmala drove to spear a line drive from Ben McLaughlin for the second out with the infield in and took care of Ryan Waldschmidt by handling a ground ball at short to get Chay Yeager through a second scoreless stanza.
One pitch later, the game was over when Victor Arias singled off Sam Knowlton to drive in the C’s designated runner Aaron Parker with the winning run. Parker had pinch-hit for Deschamps in the bottom of the sixth inning and took over behind the pentagon. Deschamps ended his day by throwing out Angel Ortiz trying to steal second a half-inning earlier.
The Canadians travel to Tri-City to face the Dust Devils for a six-game series on Tuesday. Khal Stephen will start the series opener and get the ball again for Sunday’s finale. In between, it’s Jackson Wentworth, TBD, Trey Yesavage and Fernando Perez from Wednesday to Saturday. All games are at 6:30 pm except for Sunday which is a 1:30 pm first pitch. Tyler Zickel will call the action on CanadiansBaseball.com. The games are also on BallySports.com.
C-Changes
Catcher Hayden Gilliland was promoted to Double-A New Hampshire on May 28.
Outfielders Brennan Orf and Jacob Wetzel, infielder Adrian Pinto and pitchers Connor O’Halloran and Kendry Rojas remain on the seven-day injured list. Pinto was present during the C’s homestand against Hillsboro. Righthander Carson Pierce is on the 60-day IL.
Radar Gun Rundown
Here are some of the pitcher’s velocities from the homestand. A ‘|’ bar between velos are from a second appearance on the mound.
- Fernando Perez – 91K, 91K, 81K, 85K | 93K, 94K, 74K, 83K
- Edinson Batista – 80-92
- Julio Ortiz – 92K, 88K, 95-98
- Khal Stephen – 79, 94-96, 85K
- Bo Bonds – 80-92, 86K
- Aaron Munson – 91K, 93
- Yondrei Rojas – 84-97, 94K
- Jackson Wentworth – 94K, 82K, 79K
- Pat Gallagher – 83K | 83-92, 91K
- Chay Yeager – 88-98, 102K!?
- Edinson Batista – 79-92, 85K
- Irv Carter – 88K, 89K
- Kai Peterson – 93K-94K | 93-95
- Jonathan Todd – 93, 86K
- Trey Yesavage – 95K, 85K, 84K, 84K
- Bo Bonds – 75-93
- Gage Stanifer – 95K, 86K, 85K, 84K, 96K, 88K
- JJ Sánchez – 94
C-Tweets + C-IGs
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