The Vancouver Canadians avenged their Canada Day loss to the Everett AquaSox by winning five in a row in a home-and-home set that began with three games in Vancouver and three in Everett.
The C’s hope Sunday’s finale will not be the last time they visit Funko Field this season as the Frogs will host the Northwest League Championship Series in September. The two teams will conclude the regular season with six games at The Nat.
Tuesday, July 1 – Everett 2 Vancouver 1
3B – Arias (4) | Wentworth 6IP 2R 3K, Carter 3IP 0R 2K
Wednesday, July 2 – Vancouver 7 Everett 3
2B – Keys (16), Micheletti (13), 3B – Arias (5), SB – Nimmala (6), Cunningham (5), Harry (2) | Stanifer (W, 1-2) 5.1IP 0R 9K, Coleman (H, 1) 1.2IP 0R 2K 1IRS, Rojas (SV, 1) 2IP 0R 4K 2IRS
Thursday, July 3 – Vancouver 6 Everett 5 (10 Innings)
HR – Arias (5) | Peterson 1.2IP 1R 3K, Munson (H, 2) 3IP 0R 3K, Yeager (W, 4-2) 2IP 2R 1K
Friday, July 4 – Vancouver 9 Everett 2
HR – Micheletti (12), Gilliland (1), 2B – Goodwin (4), Gilliland (2), Coffey (16), Micheletti (14)
Perez 4.2IP 2R 5K, Batista (W, 4-2) 1.1IP 0R 3K 3IRS, Sánchez 2IP 0R 1K, Todd 1IP 0R 1K
Saturday, July 5 – Vancouver 3 Everett 0 HR – Coffey (6), 2B – Nimmala (17) | Stephen (W, 5-1) 6IP 0R 6K, Coleman (H, 2) 2IP 0R 2K Rojas (SV, 2) 1IP 0R 1K
Sunday, July 6 – Vancouver 4 Everett 3
HR – Cunningham (8), Micheletti 2 (14), 2B – Coffey (17) | Wentworth 5IP 3R 3K, Carter (W, 3-1) 2IP 0R 3K, Yeager (SV, 4) 2IP 0R 2K
C-Notes
Congratulations to C’s outfielder Eddie Micheletti for winning the Northwest League Player of the Week award for June 30-July 6. The 2024 eighth-round pick from Virginia Tech batted .500 with a 1.000 OPS thanks to two doubles, three home runs and seven runs batted in. Micheletti’s master piece was Sunday when he hit the game-tying home run in the sixth inning and the game-winning round-tripper in the eighth to give the C’s a one-run win over the Frogs. Micheletti joins Arjun Nimmala, Victor Arias, Adrian Pinto and Nick Goodwin in the NWL winner’s circle for hitter of the week honours this season.
Congratulations also to Khal Stephen for winning the Northwest League Pitcher of the Month award for June. Alex Amalfi was the last hurler to earn NWL monthly plaudits back in July 2024. Stephen outdueled his former Mississippi State teammate and 2024 Seattle Mariners switch-pitcher Jurrangelo Cijntje with six shutout innings on Saturday. It would be a surprise if Stephen makes another start at Nat Bailey Stadium as he is banging on the door for a promotion to Double-A New Hampshire.
Tuesday
Arjun Nimmala continued to suffer bad luck at the plate when AquaSox right fielder Anthony Donofrio made a nice running grab by reaching over the wall in foul territory to make the catch.
Victor Arias electrified the crowd with a triple to left-center field to start the fourth inning. Unfortunately, Nimmala grounded out to short, and Sean Keys hit a shallow fly ball to right that Donofrio caught and eventually started a 9-2-1 double play. Arias slammed on the brakes after tagging up but then started up again when the ball got away momentarily from catcher Josh Caron. However, pitcher Taylor Dollard was covering the plate and easily tagged out Arias before getting to the plate.
Arias made an incredible leaping catch against the center field wall against Luis Suisbel and was able to start an 8-3 double play to double off Freuddy Batista to end the sixth and help Jackson Wentworth finish up with two runs allowed over six frames.
Righthander Lazaro Estrada (2021, 2024) has been activated by Buffalo on July 6 after being recalled by Toronto to make his MLB debut the day before.
Irv Carter was able to get out of a second-and-third one-out jam in the ninth. Caron doubled to left and Tai Peete singled to left before stealing second. Caron tried to scamper home when the ball got away from C’s catcher Nic Deschamps, but he recovered the ball and made the flip to Carter to tag Caron out at the dish.
The C’s are in Hillsboro to take on the Hops at Hillsboro Ballpark. Gage Stanifer, Chris McElvain, Fernando Perez, Khal Stephen and Jackson Wentworth are listed as the probable starters Tuesday through Saturday. Stanifer is slated to start Sunday’s series finale. All games are at 6:35 pm except for Friday at 7:05 pm and Sunday at 1:05 pm. All games are on CanadiansBaseball.com with Tyler Zickel on the call. The games can also be seen on BallySports.com.
Outfielder Steward Berroa (2022) was designated for assignment by the Los Angeles Dodgers and righthander Yosver Zulueta was sent down by Cincinnati to Triple-A Louisville on July 3.
Wednesday
Aaron Parker had a hit taken away from him when Curtis Washington made a leaping catch at the left field fence in the third inning.
The C’s caught a break in the bottom of the sixth when Eddie Micheletti doubled to left field even though the ball landed just foul of the left field line. Micheletti would score the first of three Vancouver runs in the frame.
Everett shortstop Luis Suisbel broke his bat on consecutive pitches as he was getting sawed off by Vancouver reliever Yondrei Rojas, who successfully avoided Suisbel’s bat with a swinging strike three on the next pitch to end the eighth inning.
Jay Harry stole a base in his return to the C’s lineup and it was an easy one as AquaSox catcher Josh Caron‘s throw didn’t make it past the mound in the eighth inning.
Thursday
Nick Goodwin made a bid for a base hit but AquaSox center field Tai Peete recovered from a late jump and made a sliding catch to start the third inning.
In the ninth, Chay Yeager got ahead of the number eight and nine hitters with a 0-2 count, but Carson Jones‘ leadoff single to right field was cashed in by a Colin Davis double to left to cut the C’s lead to 5-4. Yeager then rallied from a 3-0 count to strike out Charlie Pagliarini looking and got Colt Emerson to pop out to short. However, Cutter Coffey booted a ground ball at third off the bat of Freuddy Batista, and that allowed pinch-runner Curtis Washington to score the tying run. Yeager got out of the inning by getting Luis Suisbel to fly out to right field.
In the 10th, Yeager held strong as he kept Suisbel at third after he was advanced 90 feet on a ground ball to first by Josh Caron. Peete hit a grounder to Goodwin at second with the infield drawn in for the second out before Brandon Eike popped out to short.
Canadians hitting coach Ryan Wright is leaving the club to become the new hitting coach at Gonzaga University. He was presented with a signed team poster at the end of Thursday’s game after a video tribute from a number of former C’s hitters he coached from 2021-2025.
- Alan Roden (2023)
- Peyton Williams (2023-2024)
- Riley Tirotta (2022-2023)
- Ryan McCarty (2022-2023)
- Devonte Brown (2023)
- Cade Doughty (2023)
- Jace Bohrofen (2024)
- Josh Kasevich (2023)
- Jackson Hornung (2024-2025)
- Garrett Spain (2022-2023)
2014 C’s outfielder and former Toronto Blue Jay Jonathan Davis takes over for Wright. Davis has been with Dunedin this season with former C’s utilityman Nash Knight (2016) as an assistant hitting coach.
Friday
Hayden Gilliland brought home four runs for the C’s. The first came on a 6-3 double play in the top of the third against Ryan Hawks. The former Tennessee Tech Golden Eagle would get credit for runs batted in with a two-run double to left field in the fifth to put Vancouver ahead for good in the fifth off Hawks. Gilliland then belted his first professional home run in the seventh off Jordan Jackson to spark a five-run rally.
C’s reliever JJ Sánchez found himself in a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the seventh after a Carson Jones single to right along with Charlie Pagliarini and Freuddy Batista free passes. However, the southpaw Sánchez kept the ball in the infield with three pop-ups after allowing a base runner. He retired Curtis Washington Jr., Colt Emerson and Luis Suisbel on a P4, P6 and P3 on the scorecard, respectively.
Saturday
Victor Arias and his excellent defence showed up once again. He fielded a double from Brandon Eike off the center field wall and started an 8-4-2 double play with Cutter Coffey and Aaron Parker to cut down Charlie Pagliarini at the plate after drawing a two-out walk. That helped the C’s record their Northwest League-leading eighth shutout of the season.
Sunday
Bryce Arnold was charged with a fielding error in left field in the sixth inning that allowed Tai Peete to reach base. However, Peete decided to gamble and go to second base on the play and he was thrown out by Arnold and tagged out by Nick Goodwin on a 7-4 play. In between, Irv Carter struck out Freuddy Batista and Josh Caron to face the minimum. Carter struck out Colt Emerson looking to end the seventh to strand an Anthony Donofrio leadoff walk and stolen base at third base.
C-Changes
2024-2025 C’s righthander Chay Yeager is moving on to Double-A New Hampshire according to the tweet below.
Yeager leaves Vancouver with 89-2/3 innings to his credit along with eight wins, six saves and 84 strikeouts in his two years with the club. The 22-year-old from Fort Wayne, Indiana, posted a 4-2 record with a 1.77 ERA with four saves and a 43-13 K/BB total in 35-2/3 innings this season. Yeager was Toronto’s 12th round pick from Pasco-Hernando State Junior College in 2023. All the best to Chay in Double-A.
24-year-old lefthander Johan Simón has been called up from Low-A Dunedin to fill in for Yeager. The 6-foot-1, 166-pound hurler from La Romana in the Dominican Republic had a 3.79 ERA and a 45-16 strikeout/walk total in 40-1/3 with the D-Jays this season. Simón was a free agent signing by Toronto on October, 14, 2020.
Jay Harry returns to the club from New Hampshire. He was promoted from Vancouver to Manchester on April 25 and played 44 games with the Fisher Cats. The 22-year-old from New Brunswick, New Jersey looks to regain his early-season hitting form that saw him post an .835 on-base-plus-slugging percentage with the C’s. Harry will be wearing number 10 after wearing number 8 for Monty’s Mounties earlier in the season. He was going to wear number 4 to begin the year but agreed to give it to pitcher Irv Carter in tandem with his name Irv Carter IV.
2024-2025 Vancouver Canadians outfielder Je’Von Ward was promoted to Double-A New Hampshire on July 1. The former Kane County Cougar posted a Northwest League-leading .437 on-base percentage in 56 games with the C’s, drawing a league-best 64 walks. The 25-year-old from Cerritos, California, logged 118 games with Vancouver with 11 home runs, 18 doubles, three triples and 12 stolen bases. All the best to Je’Von in Manchester.
Other transactions involving former C’s.
Lefty Kendry Rojas (2024) was promoted from Low-A Dunedin to Double-A New Hampshire, bypassing Vancouver.
Lefthander Mason Fluharty (2022-2023) was sent down to Triple-A Buffalo, righthander Grayson Thurman (2024) was activated by New Hampshire and righthander Johnathan Lavallee (2024) was placed on the Fisher Cats seven-day injured list on July 2.
Catcher Robert Brooks (2024) was activated by New Hampshire, lefthander Trenton Wallace (2022-2023) was placed on the seven-day injured list by Buffalo and righthander Devereaux Harrison (2022-2023) was promoted from New Hampshire to Buffalo on July 4.
Righthander Luis Quiñones (2019, 2021) has been sent from Buffalo to the Florida Complex League on a rehab assignment on July 5.
Righthander Lazaro Estrada (2021, 2024) was returned to Buffalo by Toronto on July 6, one day after his MLB debut. Outfielder Will Robertson (2019, 2021) was designated for assignment by Toronto, also on July 6.
Infielder Alex De Jesús (2022-2023) was promoted from Dunedin to New Hampshire on July 7.
Outfielder Jace Bohrofen (2024) was placed on the seven-day injured list by New Hampshire and righthander Eric Pardinho (2022, 2023) has been assigned by Buffalo to the FCL for a rehab assignment on July 8.
Also of note…
Outfielder Steward Berroa (2022) was designated for assignment by the Los Angeles Dodgers, righthander Yosver Zulueta (2022) was sent down by Cincinnati to Triple-A Louisville and infielder Vinny Capra (2018) was designated for assignment by the Chicago White Sox on July 4.
Designated hitter Rowdy Tellez (2014) was signed to a free agent deal by the Texas Rangers on July 5.
Outfielder Lane Thomas (2015) was placed on the 10-day injured list by the Cleveland Guardians on July 6.
Lefthander Ryan Borucki (2014, 2015) has been sent by Pittsburgh to Low-A Bradenton for a rehab assignment and infielder Vinny Capra has been sent by the Chicago White Sox to Triple-A Charlotte on July 8.
Radar Gun Rundown
Here are some of the pitchers’ velocities from the homestand. A ‘|’ bar between velos are from a second appearance on the mound.
- Jackson Wentworth – 82-92, 86K
- Irv Carter 89K, 90K, 84-94
- Gage Stanifer 94K, 82K, 96K, 94K, 95K, 87K, 85K, 82
- Javen Coleman 88K, 97K, 80, 81
- Julio Ortiz 85, 96-100
- Yondrei Rojas 98K, 96-99
- Chris McElvain 92K, 89K, 90K, 86, 94, 95
- Kai Peterson 94K, 94K, 84K, 82
- Aaron Munson 92K, 89K, 90K, 85
- Chay Yeager 96K, 86, 88, 91, 98, 99
Looking Ahead
C-Tweets + C-IGs
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