A return home did not result in a return to the win column for the Vancouver Canadians against the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes Thursday night.
The bewildered look on the face of Lane Thomas says it all as the C's dropped their fifth in a row. Thomas had two hits in a losing effort.
Sean Ratcliffe made his first start of the season. After stranding a double in the first, he was roughed up for five runs on five hits and three walks and also plunked a hitter in 2-1/3 innings.
J.C. Cardenas looks to be in disbelief after the Canadians argued a runner left too early tagging from second base to third after a home-run robbing catch by Connor Panas in left field in the third inning. Sean Ratcliffe, who is behind Cardenas, would give up a run-scoring single to the next batter and that would lead to his exit from the game.
Back-to-back Canadians in the batting order for the Canadians as Surrey's Justin Atkinson is at bat while Toronto's Connor Panas is on deck. Atkinson had two hits in his return to Nat Bailey Stadium after being part of the C's third straight Northwest League championship in 2013.
Daniel Young allowed an inherited runner to score but threw two shutout innings with two hits and two walks.
Joey Aquino heads to the mound after getting a lift from the bullpen cart. Aquino stranded a runner for Young but allowed three runs on four hits and a walk but struck out a pair.
Lefty Joe Claver exits the bullpen cart to relieve Aquino. He retired the only two hitters he faced to end the seventh.
Gunnar Heidt stands at first base after an infield single in the seventh inning. He and Justin Atkinson would later score on a J.C. Cardenas home run to left field to make it an 8-3 ballgame.
Bob Wheatley heads to the dugout after finishing off the eighth inning. He was nicked for a run on a hit and a walk in the C's 9-3 loss to Salem-Keizer.
As far as radar gun readings go, Sean Ratcliffe threw 85-86 and 90-92 miles per hour and Daniel Young clocked in at 76, 80-83 and 89 MPH. Joey Aquino was around 83-84 and 91. Joe Claver has an unsightly 3-8 K/BB ratio in 6 innings but was perfect in his two-thirds of an inning. Andrew Case finished off the ninth and gave up just one hit to lower his ERA to 0.96.
As far as defensive plays go, the C's turned a nice 6-4-3 double play started by J.C. Cardenas, turned by Lane Thomas and finished by Justin Atkinson in the fourth inning. Atkinson was 1-for-2 in catching foul pop-ups on the first base side. He authoritatively called off catcher Kevin Garcia to snare a sky-high pop up in the second inning but had trouble with another one as he ran out of room near the luxury seats. He got a glove on it but couldn't hang on.
Atkinson has three hits in his first two games since returning to Vancouver. As for Garcia, he threw out a runner trying to steal second in the sixth inning with a nice peg to Thomas that was right on the money. He also had a base hit last night.
However, the defensive highlight was a catch by Connor Panas in left field to rob C.J. Hinojosa of a home run and ultimately prevent the Volcanoes from reaching double digits. If Hinojosa's initals were J.C., maybe that goes over the fence! Cardenas got his first home run and it's been a while since he put one in the hit column. Since celebrating his 21st birthday with two hits, including a walk-off winning single, he had just one other hit before last night's tater. He's hitting just .119 but his on-base percentage is nearly 200 points higher at .302.
The C's tried to get on the board first when Earl Burl III got a one-out single but was then doubled off after Carl Wise lined out to short and that pretty miuch set the tone for the night. Vancouver had a runner on in six of the first seven innings but Salem-Keizer starter Logan Webb spun a five-hitter over six shutout frames innings and reliever Mac Marshall overcame the three-run homer by Cardenas by striking out the side in the eighth among his five K's.
At this point, the C's hopes of clinching a play-off berth are getting slimmer. They're six games back of Everett in the NWL North Division at 8-14 with just 16 games left to play and Spokane and Tri-City between them. The Canadians take on Salem-Keizer for the next four days at The Nat with Friday and Sunday's games at 1:05 pm while the start times Saturday and Monday are 7:05 pm. Francisco Rios is slated to start Friday's nooner and Ryan Borucki will get the ball Saturday. Despite the much cooler weather today, which is expected to continue into the next few days, there will be no fireworks Saturday night because of the forest fire situation in the province.
The bewildered look on the face of Lane Thomas says it all as the C's dropped their fifth in a row. Thomas had two hits in a losing effort.
Sean Ratcliffe made his first start of the season. After stranding a double in the first, he was roughed up for five runs on five hits and three walks and also plunked a hitter in 2-1/3 innings.
J.C. Cardenas looks to be in disbelief after the Canadians argued a runner left too early tagging from second base to third after a home-run robbing catch by Connor Panas in left field in the third inning. Sean Ratcliffe, who is behind Cardenas, would give up a run-scoring single to the next batter and that would lead to his exit from the game.
Back-to-back Canadians in the batting order for the Canadians as Surrey's Justin Atkinson is at bat while Toronto's Connor Panas is on deck. Atkinson had two hits in his return to Nat Bailey Stadium after being part of the C's third straight Northwest League championship in 2013.
Daniel Young allowed an inherited runner to score but threw two shutout innings with two hits and two walks.
Joey Aquino heads to the mound after getting a lift from the bullpen cart. Aquino stranded a runner for Young but allowed three runs on four hits and a walk but struck out a pair.
Lefty Joe Claver exits the bullpen cart to relieve Aquino. He retired the only two hitters he faced to end the seventh.
Gunnar Heidt stands at first base after an infield single in the seventh inning. He and Justin Atkinson would later score on a J.C. Cardenas home run to left field to make it an 8-3 ballgame.
Bob Wheatley heads to the dugout after finishing off the eighth inning. He was nicked for a run on a hit and a walk in the C's 9-3 loss to Salem-Keizer.
As far as radar gun readings go, Sean Ratcliffe threw 85-86 and 90-92 miles per hour and Daniel Young clocked in at 76, 80-83 and 89 MPH. Joey Aquino was around 83-84 and 91. Joe Claver has an unsightly 3-8 K/BB ratio in 6 innings but was perfect in his two-thirds of an inning. Andrew Case finished off the ninth and gave up just one hit to lower his ERA to 0.96.
As far as defensive plays go, the C's turned a nice 6-4-3 double play started by J.C. Cardenas, turned by Lane Thomas and finished by Justin Atkinson in the fourth inning. Atkinson was 1-for-2 in catching foul pop-ups on the first base side. He authoritatively called off catcher Kevin Garcia to snare a sky-high pop up in the second inning but had trouble with another one as he ran out of room near the luxury seats. He got a glove on it but couldn't hang on.
Atkinson has three hits in his first two games since returning to Vancouver. As for Garcia, he threw out a runner trying to steal second in the sixth inning with a nice peg to Thomas that was right on the money. He also had a base hit last night.
However, the defensive highlight was a catch by Connor Panas in left field to rob C.J. Hinojosa of a home run and ultimately prevent the Volcanoes from reaching double digits. If Hinojosa's initals were J.C., maybe that goes over the fence! Cardenas got his first home run and it's been a while since he put one in the hit column. Since celebrating his 21st birthday with two hits, including a walk-off winning single, he had just one other hit before last night's tater. He's hitting just .119 but his on-base percentage is nearly 200 points higher at .302.
The C's tried to get on the board first when Earl Burl III got a one-out single but was then doubled off after Carl Wise lined out to short and that pretty miuch set the tone for the night. Vancouver had a runner on in six of the first seven innings but Salem-Keizer starter Logan Webb spun a five-hitter over six shutout frames innings and reliever Mac Marshall overcame the three-run homer by Cardenas by striking out the side in the eighth among his five K's.
At this point, the C's hopes of clinching a play-off berth are getting slimmer. They're six games back of Everett in the NWL North Division at 8-14 with just 16 games left to play and Spokane and Tri-City between them. The Canadians take on Salem-Keizer for the next four days at The Nat with Friday and Sunday's games at 1:05 pm while the start times Saturday and Monday are 7:05 pm. Francisco Rios is slated to start Friday's nooner and Ryan Borucki will get the ball Saturday. Despite the much cooler weather today, which is expected to continue into the next few days, there will be no fireworks Saturday night because of the forest fire situation in the province.
