The Vancouver Canadians downed the Tri-City Dust Devils 3-1 at Nat Bailey Stadium on Sunday.
Canadians starter Pat Gallagher had a solid first inning, striking out D’Shawn Knowles in the middle of a 1-2-3 frame. Dust Devils starter Bryce Osmond also set down the side in order in the bottom of the first.
The first hit of the game was an Alexander Ramirez double to the left field corner in the top of the second but Gallagher kept Ramirez in place, ending the inning with a strikeout of Casey Dana.
Josh Kasevich got Vancouver’s first hit with a hustle double that stayed fair down the right field with one out in the bottom of the second. Kasevich slid in feet first to just beat the throw by Ramirez. Gabby Martinez drew a walk but Osmond prevented any further movement on the basepaths.
Caleb Pendleton punched a single to center field with one away in the top of the third. Gallagher flagged down a comebacker to the mound and threw to second for a 1-6 fielder’s choice with Placencia beating the throw at first. Knowles then hit a roller right to Devonte Brown at first and he made the unassisted putout for out number three.
Jommer Hernández gave one a ride in the top of the third inning but Steven Rivas made the catch at the warning track in left-center for the first out. Osmond could not keep Devonte Brown in the park though as Brown cleared the short left field fence, depositing the ball into the C’s bullpen to put Vancouver up 1-0.
Gallagher struck out Stewart to start the top of the fourth. Vera singled up the middle just under the glove of Estiven Machado at short but that was all Tri-City could muster.
In the home half of the fourth, Kasevich lined an opposite field single to right with one away. He would be picked off on a 1-4-3-6 play and words were exchanged between Kasevich and the Dust Devils shortstop Vera as Kasevich appeared to take issue with Vera’s extra shove after applying the tag. Third base coach Danny Canellas had to escort Kasevich off the field to make sure cooler heads prevailed. That was it for the Canadians in that stanza.
The Dust Devils tied it when Casey Dana kept a ball fair down the left field line for a leadoff home run in the fifth off Gallagher as Dana won this round in the battle of former Connecticut Huskies teammates. The C’s dugout felt the ball was foul but umpire Pendleton struck out for the second out as Gallagher sat down the next three hitters in a row.
Glenn Albanese Jr. was the first Tri-City reliever of the day as he worked in the bottom of the fifth. He walked Machado with one out but Hernandez hit into a 6-4-3 double play.
Eric Pardinho gave up a Knowles base rap up the gut to start the top of the sixth for Vancouver but Knowles overslid the second base bag and Kasevich made the tag on the throw from Hernández for the 2-4 caught stealing. Pardinho would get out of the inning without further incident.
Will Christopherson was the next hurler for the Dust Devils and he served up a two-out home run to Cade Doughty that did not damage the video board this time. His 15th big fly in the bottom of the sixth gave the C’s a 2-1 lead.
Ramirez singled to center to begin the top of the seventh inning against Pardinho. Werner Blakely walked before Dana lifted a fly ball to center. Dasan Brown made the catch and unleashed a throw to third that was on target to Doughty who tagged Ramirez on the hand for an 8-5 double play. That helped Pardinho put up another zero on the scoreboard.
Christopher posted a goose egg for the Dust Devils in the bottom of the seventh and C’s reliever Naswell Paulino did likewise in the top of the eighth, with the lefty striking out Placencia to cap a perfect frame.
The Canadians got another long ball in the bottom of the eighth against Christopher. Devonte Brown left the yard again, clearing the sign above the manual scoreboard in center field for a two-out round-tripper, number 13 on the campaign, to make it 3-1 Vancouver.
Conor Larkin was brought in for the top of the ninth for the Canadians and he worked an efficient entrada, ending the game by striking out Ramirez to complete the six-game series sweep.
C-Notes
Eric Pardinho was the winning pitcher to up his record to 2-1. Conor Larkin got save number two on the season.
The Canadians won their 30th game in 42 tries in the second half and go to 68-39, surpassing their 2022 victory total. The C’s are seven games ahead of the Everett AquaSox for first place in the second-half standings and nine games ahead of the Eugene Emeralds.
The Canadians get ready to go to Eugene for their final regular season trip of 2023. The six-game set begins Tuesday at 6:35 p.m. at P.K. Park. Tyler Zickel will have the play-by-play on CanadiansBaseball.com. The game is also available on MiLB.TV.
Radar Gun Rundown
Gallagher had strikeouts of 89, 81 and 79 miles per hour and was in the 79-92 range. Pardinho was at 84-94 and Paulino had a punchout at 82 while being around 79-89. Larkin was at 80 miles per hour and had a strikeout at 95.
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