The Vancouver Canadians fell to the Hillsboro Hops 4-2 at Nat Bailey Stadium on Thursday.
Hops leadoff hitter Jonathan Guzman singled to left on the game’s first pitch but C’s starter Rafael Sanchez struck out Channy Ortiz and got Josh Day to hit into a 5-4-3 double play.
The C’s got their first hit of the night with two outs in the bottom of the first when Andrés Sosa singled to right off Dylan Ray but that was it for that inning.
Sanchez struck out J.J. D’Orazio to start the top of the second and snared a sharp comebacker to the mound by Shane Muntz. Kevin Graham kept the inning going with a double to right-center field that Devonte Brown nearly came up with on a headlong dive but Garry Mattis Jr. flew out to right to end the frame.
Michael Turconi reached base on a strikeout/wild pitch with one out in the home half of the second but Gabby Martinez hit into an inning-ending 5-4-3 double play.
A two-out single to left by Guzman and a base knock to left by Brown were the only hits of the third inning for either side.
Hillsboro got the scoring started in the fourth when Jesus Valdez—who replaced Day at third base in the bottom of the second—hit a leadoff home run off Sanchez to left-center. D’Orazio doubled to the right-field corner on a 3-2 pitch and he came to score on the next pitch when Muntz hit a wall-ball to center to make it 2-0 Hops. A 4-3 ground out by Graham sent Muntz to third but Sanchez struck out Mattis and got S.P. Chen to ground out to third.
The fourth inning began with promise when Sosa singled down the left field line but it was only a single as he was thrown out at second by Guzman on a 7-4 play. That helped Ray face the minimum.
Guzman got on base again for Hillsboro with a one-out walk but Sosa threw him out trying to steal second after Ortiz swung at strike three.
Turconi got aboard on a sharp single to short that Ortiz had trouble handling at short but Martinez hit into a 6-4-3 double play. Brown singled to right and stole second and third and he came home on an infield single to second to make it a 2-1 ballgame.
Hillsboro would expand its lead in the sixth against Eric Pardinho when Valdez singled to left on a 1-2 pitch before coming home on a D’Orazio home run to right-center on the next pitch. Pardinho walked Mattis with two outs and a Sosa passed ball moved the runners to second but Pardinho would strike out the side by sitting down Muntz, Graham and Julio Carrion.
Junior Mieses was the first Hops reliever out of the bullpen to work the bottom of the sixth and he gave up a Josh Kasevich single to left before hitting Sosa on the hand on a 3-2 pitch. A wild pitch moved the runners up but Garrett Spain lined into a 3-6 double play as Sosa was doubled off at second. The C’s did not come away empty-handed as Cade Doughty walked with two outs and Mieses’ control problems resulted in a wild pitch to score Kasevich to cut the Hops lead to two. Turconi got ahead in the count at 3-1 but flew out to right to end the inning.
Pardinho saw the leadoff man get aboard again when Chen reached on an infield single to second in the top of the seventh but Pardinho retired the next three men, ending the frame with a strikeout of Valdez.
Lefthander Will Mabrey took care of the C’s with a three-up, three-down inning in the bottom of the seventh and the eighth. In between, a line-drive single to right by D’Orazio started the top of the eighth against new C’s reliever Ryan Boyer but that was it for Hillsboro as Boyer would strike out Graham among the three straight hitters he retired.
Sam Ryan entered the game for Vancouver and worked a clean top of the ninth that featured a strikeout of Carreon.
Peñiel Otaño came in from the Hops bullpen for the bottom of the ninth and walked Doughty with one out. Turconi flew out to right on a 3-1 pitch for the second out. An errant pickoff throw by D’Orazio behind the plate allowed Doughty to make it to third. Martinez drew a walk to bring Devonte Brown to the plate. Dasan Brown was brought in to pinch-run for Martinez as the potential tying run and tried to get into scoring position but D’Orazio threw him out to end the game. Replays on MiLB.TV showed Brown may have gotten his left hand on the bag before Chen applied the tag but D’Orazio’s throw was on the money and base umpire Cas Cousins called Brown out.
C-Notes
Canadians first baseman Peyton Williams was placed on the seven-day injured list. He injured himself diving for the first base bag with the ball in his glove to record the unassisted putout in the top of the seventh to help preserve the team’s no-hitter in Game 2 of Saturday’s doubleheader at Everett.
The Canadians slip to 33-26 on the season but are still up one full game on Spokane and 2-1/2 up on Tri-City. Dahian Santos gets the start on Friday for a ‘Nooner at the Nat’. Game time is 1:05 p.m. on CanadiansBaseball.com and MiLB.TV. Tyler Zickel will have the play-by-play.
Devereaux Harrison and Ryan Jennings are the probable starters for the C’s on Saturday and Sunday.
Radar Gun Rundown
Sanchez was at 80-96 miles per hour with strikeouts at 85 and 86. Pardinho had whiffs of 95, 96, 87 and 85 and reached 97. There was also a pitch that hit 100 but the gun may have been running hot. Boyer checked in at 78-94 with a strikeout at 91. Ryan was at 83 and struck out a batter at 95.
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