The Vancouver Canadians completed a six-game sweep of the Spokane Indians at Nat Bailey Stadium.
The team has won 18 of 20 games and look to hold off Everett and Hillsboro for the first-half crown in the Northwest League pennant. The C’s handed the defending league champion Spokane its first-ever six-game sweep in the High-A era which began in 2021.
Tuesday, June 10 – Vancouver 5 Spokane 1
HR – Cunningham (5), Keys (7), 3B – Arias (3), SB – Arias (9) | Stephen (W, 2-0) 6IP 0R 9K, Carter 1IP 0R 2K
Wednesday, June 11 – Vancouver 8 Spokane 4
HR – Nimmala (10), 2B – Arias 2 (10), Coffey (10), Micheletti (10) | Gallagher (W, 2-0) 2.2IP 0R 5K 1IRS, Rojas 2IP 0R 3K, Yeager (SV, 2) 0.1IP 0R 3IRS
Thursday, July 12 – Vancouver 10 Spokane 6
2B – Arias (11), Keys 2 (11) | Stanifer 4IP 3R 10K, Batista (W, 2-0) 2IP 0R 3K
Friday, June 13 – Vancouver 15 Spokane 0
2B – Hornung 2 (8), Ward (4), Keys (12), SB – Coffey (5) | McElvain 4IP 0R 3K, Munson (W, 2-2), 3IP 0R 1K, Todd 2IP 0R 2K
Saturday, June 14 – Vancouver 6 Spokane 1
Hornung (3), 3B – Nimmala (2), 2B – Coffey (11), SB – Arias (10) | Perez (W, 4-3) 6IP 1R 5K, Yeager 2IP 0R 1K, Carter 1IP 0R 1K
C-Notes
My thanks to Bob Kronbauer, aka “BC Bob”, and Ben Abel for chatting with me on their platforms, Now You Know BC and The Golden V Podcast, over the past few days. Bob spoke to a number of the press box denizens at Nat Bailey Stadium and Ben continues to cover the Vancouver sports scene with great interviews from all of the city’s professional clubs. I encourage you to follow Bob and Ben in their online ventures.
Tuesday
525 dogs were in attendance for the first of two Dog Days of Summer. Anthem singer Emma Currie brought her canine friend Louie, who added his barking vocals to both anthems. Louie was dressed up in a Blue Jays sweater.
Victor Arias ran down a ball in deep center field off the bat of Skyler Messinger to help Khal Stephen strand the bases loaded in the top of the first inning.
Eddie Micheletti ran on down in the right-center field gap to take away a hit from Jean Perez to start the third.
Cutter Coffey ran a hard 90 feet to beat out a ground ball to third base with one out in the bottom of the fifth. Skyler Messinger barehanded the ball and nearly threw out Coffey, but Aidan Longwell could not hang on to the ball at first to complete the 5-3 play. Coffey’s infield knock came in handy when Sean Keys blasted one over the fence in left field for a two-run shot.
Wednesday
Victor Arias was able to place a couple of balls perfectly down the left field line, leading off the bottom of the first with a double that went to the left field corner. He scampered to third on an Arjun Nimmala fly ball to right and would later score on a Michael Prosecky wild pitch.
In the bottom of the third, Arias kept the ball on the right side of the left field line just by inches to advance a Nick Goodwin leadoff walk to third base. Arjun Nimmala then smacked a three-run homer to left to put the C’s in front for good. Nimmala had to retreat to first base to touch the bag before completing his 360-feet to the pentagon. Coffey then doubled to right over the head of Braylen Wimmer, who misjudged the flight of the ball. That pushed a Jackson Hornung infield single to third 180 feet before tagging up and scoring on a Sean Keys sacrifice fly to left.
The infield corner tandem of Sean Keys and Carter Cunningham teamed up to make a nice play to retire Cole Messina to begin the top of the second. Keys made a nice pick of a tricky hop at third before Cunningham made a nice backhanded scoop at first for the 5-3 putout.
Arias flagged down a deep drive to center from Jared Thomas by reaching out at the last second to snare the rawhide and help Pat Gallagher get through the sixth inning. In the bottom of the frame, Arias got a free gift with a ball four pitch clock violation charged to Spokane reliever Francis Romero.
In the top of the seventh, Arias injured himself trying to throw out Aidan Longwell at second base after charging hard to go after the ball. Arias would stay in the game.
The fans were chanting “Eddie” for Eddie Micheletti in the bottom of the seventh and he responded with a two-out wall-ball double to right center field off Cade Denton.
Cunningham started the eighth with a single to center but was thrown out at second trying for a hustle double off Alan Perdomo. Arias got aboard on a two-out base error when Jared Thomas dropped the ball running towards the left field line.
Spokane made a late charge to load up the bases against Bo Bonds in the ninth. Jared Thomas started the frame by bouncing one off the top of the left field fence for a solo home run to put the visitors within four. Bonds struck out Longwell and Wimmer, but Chay Yeager was called upon to get the final out. Jean Perez sent a shallow fly ball to center that Arias was able to make a sliding catch on to end the game.
Thursday
Nine-year-old anthem singer Jake Apricity Hetherington scored lots of bonus points among the fans by yelling “Let’s Go Canadians” after stellar renditions of both anthems.
Gage Stanifer ran into early difficulties in the top of the first when the first four men reached. Jared Thomas singled to right field on the second pitch of the game, and Charlie Condon went up the middle for a base knock on the next pitch. Braylen Wimmer would eventually force home a run with a bases-loaded walk. Stanifer nearly limited the damage to just that one run by striking out Skyler Messinger and Jesus Bugarin, but Tevin Tucker beat out a slow roller to second base on a bang-bang play despite the best efforts of Nick Goodwin who ranged to his right to backhand the wall to make it 2-0 Spokane. Caleb Hobson also walked with the bags full brought in another run. Stanifer would strike out the side by whiffing Darius Perry.
The C’s began their comeback in the bottom of the first. Victor Arias punched a double to center field off Braxton Hyde to lead things off. Arias was the designated hitter in this one after doing a fair amount of running on Wednesday. He took off for third on an Arjun Nimmala ground ball to third base that went off the glove of Skyler Messinger, and Arias kept on going as Thomas had trouble picking up the ball in left field. Arias scored and Nimmala pulled up to second. It appeared Messinger may have been distracted by Arias taking off for third and the play ended with errors charged to third base and to left field.
Vancouver loaded the bags again when Sean Keys and Eddie Micheletti drew walks before a one-out Goodwin sacrifice fly scored Nimmala. Je’Von Ward reloaded the bases, and Carter Cunningham held up on a check swing to earn another walk to score Keys with the tying run after battling back from a 1-2 count.
Hayden Gilliland also fell behind in the count 0-2 before lining a 1-2 pitch up the middle off reliever Hunter Omlid to score Micheletti and Ward to put Vancouver ahead in a 10-batter inning.
Keys nearly went yard in the bottom of the second off Omlid as he drilled a ball at 114 miles per hour but it was just foul down the right field line.
Stanifer settled down by allowing just one base runner over the next three innings. He retired the side in order in the second that included an easy ground ball by Thomas that rolled right to the first base bag for an unassisted play by Cunningham for the first out.
In the top of the third, Stanifer struck out the side by getting Wimmer and Messinger swinging and Bugarin looking. Gilliland was shaken up on a Bugarin foul ball but he remained behind the plate. Stanifer gave up a leadoff single to right field by Tucker in the fourth that was nearly caught by a diving Micheletti. That was the only contact in fair territory as Stanifer rung up Hobson swining, Perry looking and Thomas swinging to end his 10-K outing.
The C’s were able to give themselves more breathing room in the bottom of the third inning despite Micheletti being rung up on a high pitch that should have been called ball four. Controversy erupted when Goodwin was hit on the hand with a pitch by Omlid. Spokane skipper Robinson Cancel argued with home plate umpire Kaden Tichenor because he believed the ball hit the bat and not Goodwin’s hand. Walks to Ward and Cunningham filled the pillows again, and Gilliland singled to center field to increase the Vancouver lead to 6-3. Another eventful at-bat for Arias followed as his slow roller was bobbled near first base by Omlid on what should have been a routine out. Instead, Ward scored on the play and Keys, after nearly going yard in his previous at-bat, would clear the bases with a double to right field and help the C’s reach double digits in the run column.
Goodwin should have had a base on balls in the bottom of the fourth when a 3-1 pitch from Stu Flesland missed off the plate, but it was called a strike by Tichenor. The at-bat ended when Goodwin struck out on a foul tip.
Ward made a nice catch with a feet-first slide and held on after taking a tumble to take away a hit from Longwell to help out reliever Edinson Batista in the top of the fifth inning. C’s play-by-play man Chris Georges noted on the broadcast that the caps of Ward and Nimmala both flew off but landed right-side up, with Nimmala trying to chase the ball down from his shortstop position. The broadcast also showed that both players wore the other’s hat briefly after the catch before switching back. Condon had walked to start the inning, but was thrown out by Gilliand on a 2-4 caught stealing to end the frame. C’s broadcaster Tyler Zickel called it a “Gilly to Goody” special. It was a curious decision by Condon to try to steal with his club down by seven runs at the time.
Condon stole a hit from Arias by ranging well to his right at first base and throwing out Gilliland for a 3-6 fielder’s choice in the fifth to erase Gilliland’s lead-off walk from Flesling. Arias continued to be daring on the basepaths by stealing second base uncontested as the lefthanded Flesling just held onto the ball.
Julio Ortiz gave up a single to center by Condon but Ward threw out Condon at second with Nimmala applying the tag to finish the 8-6 play.
Friday
Chris McElvain pitched a shutout first inning in his 2025 Nat Bailey Stadium debut, and it was nearly a three-up, three-down frame. Charlie Condon reached on an infield single to short with one out after Jackson Hornung could not hold onto the ball on the throw from Arjun Nimmala.
Jackson Hornung—who had trouble making contact Thursday—got the bat on the ball for a double to left field to begin the bottom of the third inning off Spokane starter Alberto Pacheco. The bases were loaded after Je’Von Ward walked and Nick Goodwin singled to left to load the bases with nobody out. Victor Arias had another memorable plate appearance in the series, which started with a routine fly ball to left field. However, EJ Andrews Jr. lost sight of the ball and let it drop near the left field line. That led to Hornung scoring the game’s first run. Pacheco then committed a balk that scored Ward.
The top of the fourth saw one of the most unlikely of catches to be made. Spokane catcher Cole Messina hit a fly ball into foul territory on the first base side. Right fielder Eddie Micheletti was charging after the ball with Hornung and Cutter Coffey racing in from first and second base, respectively. The ball was in Coffey’s glove, but he collided with Micheletti’s jaw, forcing the ball to come out, but Hornung managed to snare the ball and hold on near the wall in foul territory after tumbling to the ground. Micheletti was shaken up after the catch, but he was okay to continue. It was somewhat reminiscent of the 1980 World Series when Pete Rose managed to catch the ball in first base foul territory after Philadelphia catcher Bob Boone dropped it in the ninth inning of Game 6. The Phillies would eventually dispatch the Kansas City Royals to win the championship.
Aaron Munson retired Spokane in order in the sixth with a ’43 special’. All three outs were handled by Coffey at second.
Jonathan Todd completed the shutout by making a nice snare on a comebacker to the mound by Messina for the 1-3 putout. Spokane was threatening to spoil the shutout bid with a two-out rally when Longwell singled to center and Wimmer hit a double that appeared to have been going foul before the ball nicked the third base bag, taking Keys by surprise.
Saturday
The game started on a tough note for C’s starter Fernando Perez when he was hit above the right elbow by Spokane leadoff hitter Jared Thomas, who reached on an infield grounder to third. Perez then drilled Braylen Wimmer in the back but he rebounded to get Cole Messina to line out to Nick Goodwin at second base, which nearly resulted in a double play, but Aidan Longwell—who singled to right field with one out— got back to second in time. Perez kept Spokane off the board by striking out Skyler Messinger.
Spokane opened the scoring when Charlie Condon singled to center and scampered home on a Longwell double to right to Je’Von Ward. However, Goodwin lost his footing trying to make the relay throw from Ward, resulting in an error. Wimmer was drilled again in the arm by Perez but the C’s righty limited the damage by fanning Messina and getting Messinger to line out to first.
Cutter Coffey made a nice pick of a sharp grounder by Jean Perez at third base for the first out of the top of the fourth inning. Carter Cunningham then followed with a nice scoop at first when Fernando Perez fielded a swinging bunt from Caleb Hobson on the third base side of the mound. That was the first two outs of a clean top of the fourth.
Spokane reliever Austin Becker was warming up in the bullpen and wound up catching the ball hit over the left field fence by Jackson Hornung on the 100th pitch of the day by starter Konner Eaton.
Jesus Bugarin nearly made a spectacular diving catch in right field on a sinking liner from Arjun Nimmala in the bottom of the sixth. The ball kicked away from Bugarin, allowing Nimmala to race to third base. Nimmala continued to be aggressive on the basepaths as he was able to beat the tag at home on a Coffey fielder’s choice to third. Hornung then hit a screamer to second base that handcuffed Jean Perez and led to Coffey scoring the second run of the inning.
Ward had a bit of an adventure in right field and had a bit of a stumble before catching a Wimmer fly ball for the final out, helping reliever Chay Yeager strand a one-out walk to Condon.
On a final note, I had a chance to speak briefly with former Toronto Blue Jays catcher Pat Borders, who was up in the press box with former Jays hurler Todd Stottlemyre, as part of Blue Jays Day at The Nat. The 1992 World Series MVP was also in the Philadelphia Phillies organization as a manager in 2015, the final year of C’s manager José Mayorga‘s professional career as a catcher. Borders says Mayorga has the “IT” factor and has the tools to be a successful manager. Also of note, 2014 C’s pitcher Justin Shafer played with Borders’ sons Luke and Levi at Lake Wales High School and also coached 2018 C’s catcher Reilly Johnson at Winter Haven High School.
Sunday
Eddie Micheletti Senior and Irv Carter III—the fathers of C’s outfielder Eddie Micheletti and pitcher Irv Carter—were among those throwing out the ceremonial first pitch on Father’s Day. Irv’s father stole the show by imitating his son’s strut on the mound after a strikeout.
Jackson Hornung was hit on the hand by a Lebarron Johnson Jr. pitch in the bottom of the second inning but remained in the game.
Khal Stephen nearly picked off Tevin Tucker at second base in the top of the fifth inning but Cutter Coffey could not hang on to the ball. Coffey would get Stephen out of the frame by ranging past the second base bag towards short, and Carter Cunningham would make a nice scoop at first base to retire Darius Perry for the third inning.
Spokane ran themselves out of the inning in the top of the seventh inning. Jean Perez and Tucker opened the frame with walks against Pat Gallagher. Perez stole third and after a throwing error by catcher Aaron Parker, Tucker swiped into second. Gallagher struck out EJ Andrews Jr. before Tucker tried to steal home but Parker was able to make the tag as it appeared a sign was missed. Gallagher then struck out Perry to end the inning and maintain the C’s 2-1 lead.
Looking Ahead
Monty’s Mounties are in Eugene with a slim one-game lead over Everett and a two-game edge over Hillsboro heading into the final three games of the first half. Vancouver can clinch the first-half Northwest League pennant by winning out. Everett holds the tie-breaker over Vancouver, who has the tie-breaker over Hillsboro.
Everett will be in Spokane and Hillsboro is at Tri-City this week so there will be lots of scoreboard watching from now until Thursday.
Jackson Wentworth, Gage Stanifer and Chris McElvain will start for Vancouver from Tuesday to Thursday to close out the first half. Khal Stephen (who was robbed of the Northwest League Pitcher of the Week award this past homestand despite going 2-0 with 11IP 1R 11Ks vs Hillsboro’s Yordin Chalas, who won with 7IP 3ER and no wins over two appearances – make that make sense!) starts Friday and Fernando Perez will go Saturday with Wentworth handling the Sunday finale. First pitches are 6:35 p.m. on Tuesday to Friday, 5:20 p.m. on Saturday and 1:30 p.m. on Sunday. Tyler Zickel will have the play-by-play from P.K. Park on CanadiansBaseball.com. The games can also be seen on BallySports.com.
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.
- Khal Stephen 86K, 96K, 86K, 85K, 95K, 86K, 85K, 86K | 96K, 95K, 82, 95-97
- JJ Sánchez 93K, 81-97 | 84K, 86K, 93
- Irv Carter 95, 90K
- Jackson Wentworth 95K, 90K, 86K
- Pat Gallagher 84K, 86K, 87K, 89K, 86K
- Yondrei Rojas 98K, 95K, 88, 96K
- Bo Bonds 93K, 93K, 76, 82-83
- Chay Yeager 97
- Gage Stanifer 87K, 85K, 83K, 85K, 87K, 86K, 82-97
- Edinson Batista 86, 95, 93K
- Julio Ortiz 86-98, 88K, 87K
- Kai Peterson 90-95
- Chris McElvain 82, 93K, 87K, 80K
- Aaron Munson 89K, 97
- Jonathan Todd 95K, 83, 85K
- Fernando Perez 94K, 81, 82K, 83K
- Chay Yeager 92, 99
- Irv Carter 85, 94-95, 97
C-Changes
Congratulations to 2019 and 2021 Vancouver Canadians outfielder Will Robertson, who was called up from Triple-A Buffalo on June 11. The 27-year-old from Loose Creek, Missouri, put up 21 extra-base hits, 12 of them homers, and compiled an on-base-plus-slugging percentage of .991 in 52 games with the Bisons. Robertson joins 2023 C’s outfielder Alan Roden on the Toronto Blue Jays roster after the two played their college ball for the Creighton Bluejays.
On the flip side, the Toronto Blue Jays released 2022 C’s lefthander Jimmy Burnette (2022). The 26-year-old Chicago native had split the last three seasons with Buffalo and Double-A New Hampshire. Burnette had been in the Jays organization for five seasons after being drafted in the 18th round in 2021 out of St. Leo College. All the best to Jimmy in his future endeavours.
Other transactions of note involving former Vancouver Canadians.
- RHP Hunter Gregory (2023) was promoted from Double-A New Hampshire to Buffalo on June 11.
- RHP Hayden Juenger (2021) was sent on rehab assignment to Low-A Dunedin from Triple-A Buffalo on June 11, and LHP Kendry Rojas (2024) was sent on rehab from Vancouver to Dunedin on June 11.
- RHP Trey Yesavage was promoted to Double-A New Hampshire on June 12.
- SS Leo Jiménez (2022) was activated from the seven-day injured list and infielder Damiano Palmegiani (2022) was placed on the Development List by Buffalo on June 14.
- Infielder Alex De Jesús (2022-2023) was assigned to the Florida Complex League Blue Jays from New Hampshire on June 16.
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