The Vancouver Canadians lost a one-run and a two-run game to lose their best-of-three set to the Spokane Indians at Nat Bailey Stadium.
The C’s are up to 19 one-run losses for the season and their penchant for losing one-run contests dates back to the 2024 Northwest League Championship Series against Spokane when they fell short by a run three times to lose their grip on defending their 2023 title.
Friday, July 18 – Vancouver 4 Spokane 1
2B – Cunningham (9), SB – Goodwin (5), Cunningham (6), Nimmala (8) | McElvain 4IP 0R 5K, Simon (W, 1-0) 3IP 0R 4K, Coleman 2IP 1R 3K
Saturday, July 19 – Spokane 2 Vancouver 1
2B – Coffey (20), Arnold (5), Shaw (1), Goodwin (5) | Wentworth 6IP 1R 7K
Sunday, July 20 – Spokane 6 Vancouver 4
2B – Nimmala (21), Coffey 2 (22) | Bonds 1IP 0R 1K
C-Notes
Friday
Chris McElvain managed to find his way out of trouble in the second inning after a Cole Messina leadoff walk and a Skyler Messinger single to right. EJ Andrews Jr. bunted the runners over but McElvain struck out Jean Perez and overcame a two-out walk to Caleb Hobson by retiring Tevin Tucker on a fly ball to right field.
Nick Goodwin had the first Vancouver hit of the day with a single to left that went off the glove of Tucker at short in the bottom of the third. However, Spokane starter Konner Eaton still faced the minimum through three innings.
After striking out GJ Hill and Blake Wright to bookend a perfect top of the third inning, McElvain stranded a one-out double to left by Messinger, getting Perez to fly out to right. Eddie Micheletti had to battle the sun before making the catch for the final out.
Johan Simón had a nice Nat Bailey Stadium debut. The Dominican lefty struck out Caleb Hobson before failing to come up with the ball cleanly off the bat of Tevin Tucker in front of the mound and it resulted in an infield single. Tucker stole second and third but Simón struck out Hill and retired Aidan Longwell on a fly ball to left.
The C’s finally got to Eaton in the fifth inning. Back-to-back one-out singles by Edward Duran and Carter Cunningham got it started.
Cunningham was forced out on a 3-6 fielder’s choice from Nick Goodwin but Jay Harry extended the inning by working a two-out walk after a nine-pitch at-bat. Bryce Arnold then delivered a clutch two-out single up the middle to score Duran and Goodwin. Cutter Coffey followed with a base hit to center field to drive in Harry.
Arjun Nimmala‘s leadoff walk in the sixth was advanced to second on a Sean Keys groundout to second. Carter Cunningham would drive in Nimmala with a two-out double to left field to give the C’s their fourth run with two outs. Cunningham stole third base but a sliding catch by GJ Hill off the bat of Goodwin ended the inning.
Saturday
Cutter Coffey made a nice off-balance throw from second base to retire Skyler Messinger and get Jackson Wentworth a 1-2-3 fourth inning.
Spokane left fielder EJ Andrews Jr. battled Irv Carter to a 10-pitch at-bat for a two-out walk in the seventh. Though Carter got out of the inning, the effects of that at-bat may have paid off for Spokane in the eighth when the winning run came home on a Carter wild pitch with two outs in the eighth inning. Carter was one strike away from getting out of the inning.
Vancouver loaded the bases with one out in the seventh but Spokane reliever Davis Palermo got Eddie Micheletti on a shallow fly ball to right and Arjun Nimmala to foul out behind home plate.
Nimmala was robbed of a hit to end the game on a diving catch by Caleb Hobson in center field. If Hobson does not make the catch, Cutter Coffey may have had a chance to score. Hobson manufactured the winning run in the eighth with a leadoff single and two singles before scoring on a wild pitch.
Vancouver was 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position and left 12 men on base.
Victoria, BC native Sam Shaw drove in the lone C’s run with an RBI double to drive in Grimsby, Ontario native Bryce Arnold, who had also doubled. Quebec City, Quebec native Nic Deschamps was also in the starting lineup. He reached base twice with a walk and a hit by pitch.
Sunday
Edinson Batista pitched a season-high four innings but a home run by Aidan Longwell with two-outs in the first was his undoing.
After being unable to solve Stu Flesland III, Arjun Nimmala scalded a ball off the left-center field wall off Hunter Omlid to begin the fifth inning. Some members of the C’s bullpen thought that ball was going to go out by jumping up to attention, but instead, it was a double. Nimmala would be left 180 feet away when Omlid got the next three hitters in order.
Jonathan Todd was a strike away from getting out of the sixth but Longwell singled to right before Blake Wright homered to left field.
Another sign it was not going to be Vancouver’s day was .062-hitting catcher Darius Perry hitting a home run in the ninth to cap off a two-run frame.
Vancouver’s offence was held silent until the ninth but despite getting the tying run on base, Spokane reliever Cade Denton put out the fire by retiring all three men he was tasked to get in relief of Luke Taggart to give the visitors the series win.
Peyton Powell started the ninth-inning rally with an infield single for his first hit in the Northwest League. He is wearing number 12, last worn by hitting coach Ryan Wright, who accepted the hitting coach position at Gonzaga University.
Radar Gun Rundown
- Chris McElvain 85K, 93K, 79K, 88K, 92K, 94, 95, 97
- Johan Simón 89K, 92K, 84K, 85K, 82, 85, 86
- Javen Coleman 86K, 86K, 82, 84, 85, 94, 95
- Jackson Wentworth 86K, 85K, 86K, 79K, 86K, 86K, 84K, 82K, 77, 93
- Irv Carter 90K, 87, 94
- Edinson Batista 92K, 95K, 85, 91
- Bo Bonds 75K, 92
- Jonathan Todd 93K, 92K, 83K, 83K, 82, 94
- Kai Peterson 94K, 93K, 93K, 88, 95-97
- JJ Sánchez K90, 93
C-Changes
The Dunedin Blue Jays have announced righthander Colby Holcombe has been promoted to Vancouver. The 22-year-old from Florence, Alabama was Toronto’s ninth-round pick from Mississippi State in 2024. The 6-foot-6, 250 pound hurler was a college teammate of righty Khal Stephen, who is now at Double-A New Hampshire. Holcombe has pitched 65 innings for Dunedin this year with a 4.85 earned run average and struck out 56 batters.
In other transaction news, catcher Hayden Gilliland was placed on the seven-day injured list on July 18.
Also on the farm…
- First baseman Peyton Williams (2023-2024) has been placed on the Development List for Double-A New Hampshire on July 18.
- Lefthander Trenton Wallace (2022-2023) has been sent to the Florida Complex League for a rehab assigment from Triple-A Buffalo on July 19.
- Righthander Johnathan Lavallee (2024) has been activated from the seven-day injured list and righty Geison Urbaez (2024) has been placed on the Development List with New Hampshire on July 20.
- Righthander Alek Manoah (2019) has been assigned to Low-A Dunedin by the Toronto Blue Jays and lefty Mason Fluharty (2022-2023) has been recalled to the Jays from Buffalo on July 21.
Other transactions involving former Vancouver Canadians…
The Chicago White Sox optioned outfielder Will Robertson (2019, 2021) to Triple-A Charlotte on July 19.
C-View Ahead
The Vancouver Canadians open a seven-game series against the Eugene Emeralds. Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday’s games start at 7:05 pm. Thursday, Friday and Sunday’s action begins at 1:05 pm. Thursday will be a doubleheader to make up for a rained-out game in Eugene on June 21. The C’s will be batting first in Game 2 as the “visiting team”. It would be neat if the C’s wore their gray uniforms for that one. The last time Vancouver had to play as the road team at Nat Bailey Stadium was Game 2 of the 2017 Northwest League semi-final when the original game was cancelled due to poor air quality caused by nearby forest fires in the Spokane area.
Gage Stanifer will start on Tuesday and Sunday, Chris McElvain gets the ball in Game 1 of Thursday’s doubleheader, Jackson Wentworth will be on the bump Friday and Edinson Batista will throw the first pitch on Saturday. Starters for Wednesday’s game and Thursday’s second game have not been announced. All games are on CanadiansBaseball.com and BallySports.com with Tyler Zickel and Chris Georges on the play-by-play.
C-Tweets + C-IGs
Discover more from C's Plus Baseball | A Vancouver Canadians Blog
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
C's Plus Baseball | A Vancouver Canadians Blog 