The Vancouver Canadians dropped the opening game of a series at home for the fifth straight time, losing to the Everett AquaSox Sunday afternoon.
Vancouver catcher Ryan Hissey has the baseball under his foot after Everett's Alex Jackson is hit by a pitch from Jon Harris in the first inning. That scored the game's first run and Everett would add three more to build a 4-0 lead.
Roster update also below the fold.
Sean Hurley lines one into the left-center field gap to score a Ryan Hissey base hit to cut Everett's lead to 4-2.
Jon Harris lights up the radar gun at 98 miles per hour in the third inning.
Jon Harris is able to strand two runners in the third to keep the C's within striking distance.
Andrew Guillotte looks pretty happy after belting a double to left field to begin the bottom of the third.
Andrew Guillotte takes a lead from second base. He would later score on a Carl Wise fielder's choice to make it a one-run game.
Former Blue Jays All-Star reliever Paul Quantrill watches the action near the C's third base dugout.
Rolando Segovia tries to extend the third inning rally but he flied out to center to leave runners at first and second.
Sean Ratcliffe looks less than thrilled with the home plate umpire. The Ajax, Ontario native relieved Jon Harris to start the fifth inning.
Sean Ratcliffe was able to escape a bases-loaded jam with nobody out in the fifth with a strikeout at 87 miles per hour and a 4-6-3 double play. However, he loaded up the bases again in the sixth and Everett would eventually add two more to win 6-3.
Jon Harris was ambushed by the Mariners affiliate. After a lineout to shortstop J.C. Cardenas to start the game, Everett got two singles, pulled off a double steal and a walk to load the bases. After Mariners 2014 first round pick Alex Jackson was plunked to produce the game's first run, a two-run single and a sacrifice fly put the C's in a 4-0 hole. Harris bounced back with a 1-2-3 second but had to battle his way through the third and fourth to strand a single and a walk in each frame before he was done for the day. The Jays first rounder gave up four runs on five hits, three walks and an HBP over four innings. The last hit he gave up was a hit and run that was executed perfectly by the AquaSox as Rolando Segovia left to cover second base. Otherwise, that would have been a groundball out. Harris had just one strikeout and four of his 10 outs in play were on the ground. His velocity was around 93-94 MPH and did flash 98 once.
Sean Ratcliffe ran into trouble from the get-go on a leadoff walk, an infield pop single to second and a bunt single to load the bases but he was able to wiggle himself out of that jam. He pushed his luck again by loading the bases in the sixth on a double, a walk and a bunt single back to the mound. Brandon Hinkle did his best to try to bail out Ratcliffe but a base hit to right just fell in front of right fielder Sean Hurley for the fifth run. Hinkle should have been out of the inning but a Segovia throwing error led to another run. On the same play of the Segovia error, Hinkle was able to tag out a runner between third and home in a heavy collision with Everett's Braden Bishop. Both players stayed on their feet and were okay. Hinkle got through the seventh with just one walk and struck out a batter. He hit 89 MPH on the radar gun.
Josh DeGraaf managed to dance around a pair of doubles and a single to keep Everett off the board in the eighth and ninth. Carl Wise started a nice 5-4-3 double play by ranging well to his left to clear the bases. That proved to be huge when the next hitter doubled but DeGraaf stranded him by getting Alex Jackson to fly out to right. Luis Liberato nearly began the ninth with a home run but the ball just landed off the top of the big wall in right field and had to settle for a double. DeGraaf struck out one and topped out at 91 MPH.
The C's were able to respond to Everett's four runs in the first with two of their own in the bottom half thanks to a Ryan Hissey single that scored an Andrew Guillotte walk and stolen base. Hissey would then score on a double by Sean Hurley. Wise extended the inning with a free pass but Rolando Segovia grounded out to end the threat. Segovia got an extra life at the plate after a popup caught in foul territory was ruled to be out of play. Despite the protestations of Everett manager and former Jays minor leaguer Rob Mummau, the call stood. There are roped off or squared areas next to each dugout to basically mark out of bounds territories for foul balls according to the ground rules as explained by the press box official. That marked the end of a long first inning that took at least 30 minutes.
Vancouver's best chance to tie the game or take the lead came in the sixth inning when they loaded the bases with one out on singles by Wise, Earl Burl III and Cardenas, whose base hit was kept in the infield by Everett shortstop Jordan Cowan. Had that ball gone through, Wise may have scored to tie the game. Unfortunately for the C's, they got nothing as Gunnar Heidt struck out and Andrew Guillotte flied out.
The C's tried again in the eighth when Wise reached base on a strikeout/passed ball to lead things off. Burl then hit a popup to short that Cowan appeared to drop on purpose to start a double play after Burl stopped running halfway to first. Cowan picked up the ball and flipped to second for a 6-4-3 twin killing. I don't know if Burl was injured but he was replaced by Connor Panas in left field for the top of the ninth. The C's got another runner on in the ninth when Heidt walked and stole second but Everett reliever Kyle Wilcox and his 95 MPH heater were too much to overcome.
Vancouver falls to 5-6 in the second half, one game behind Everett and Tri-City for first place in the NWL North Division. Evan Smith gets the start for the C's in a 7:05 pm first pitch tonight at The Nat.
Update - Jon Wandling was scheduled to start Tuesday in the 7:05 pm series finale with Blue Jays legend Devon White on hand to sign autographs. Instead, he and second baseman Lane Thomas are going up to Lansing while righthander Ryan Cook will make his way to Vancouver according to the Northwest League transactions page.
Wandling leaves Vancouver with a 1-4 record and a 4.66 earned run average. He struck out 34 and walked 11 over 46-1/3 innings. The 23 year-old righty from Evansville, Indiana made two appearances in Dunedin and got a victory before returning to B.C. this season. He was 2-0 with a 4.63 ERA in one start and three relief appearances with the C's last season.
Thomas hit .225/.257/.391 with the C's with 13 doubles, five home runs, 33 runs batted in and five stolen bases. The 19 year-old right-handed hitter batted .275 over his last 10 games. His home run and RBI totals placed him in the top five in the Northwest League.
Cook has spent the year in Dunedin, mostly with the Gulf Coast squad while mixing in two appearances with the Dunedin Jays this month. In a combined 17-1/3 innings, Cook has struck out 20 and walked six with a record of 2-2 and a 2.08 ERA.
Vancouver catcher Ryan Hissey has the baseball under his foot after Everett's Alex Jackson is hit by a pitch from Jon Harris in the first inning. That scored the game's first run and Everett would add three more to build a 4-0 lead.
Roster update also below the fold.
Sean Hurley lines one into the left-center field gap to score a Ryan Hissey base hit to cut Everett's lead to 4-2.
Jon Harris lights up the radar gun at 98 miles per hour in the third inning.
Jon Harris is able to strand two runners in the third to keep the C's within striking distance.
Andrew Guillotte looks pretty happy after belting a double to left field to begin the bottom of the third.
Andrew Guillotte takes a lead from second base. He would later score on a Carl Wise fielder's choice to make it a one-run game.
Former Blue Jays All-Star reliever Paul Quantrill watches the action near the C's third base dugout.
Rolando Segovia tries to extend the third inning rally but he flied out to center to leave runners at first and second.
Sean Ratcliffe looks less than thrilled with the home plate umpire. The Ajax, Ontario native relieved Jon Harris to start the fifth inning.
Sean Ratcliffe was able to escape a bases-loaded jam with nobody out in the fifth with a strikeout at 87 miles per hour and a 4-6-3 double play. However, he loaded up the bases again in the sixth and Everett would eventually add two more to win 6-3.
Jon Harris was ambushed by the Mariners affiliate. After a lineout to shortstop J.C. Cardenas to start the game, Everett got two singles, pulled off a double steal and a walk to load the bases. After Mariners 2014 first round pick Alex Jackson was plunked to produce the game's first run, a two-run single and a sacrifice fly put the C's in a 4-0 hole. Harris bounced back with a 1-2-3 second but had to battle his way through the third and fourth to strand a single and a walk in each frame before he was done for the day. The Jays first rounder gave up four runs on five hits, three walks and an HBP over four innings. The last hit he gave up was a hit and run that was executed perfectly by the AquaSox as Rolando Segovia left to cover second base. Otherwise, that would have been a groundball out. Harris had just one strikeout and four of his 10 outs in play were on the ground. His velocity was around 93-94 MPH and did flash 98 once.
Sean Ratcliffe ran into trouble from the get-go on a leadoff walk, an infield pop single to second and a bunt single to load the bases but he was able to wiggle himself out of that jam. He pushed his luck again by loading the bases in the sixth on a double, a walk and a bunt single back to the mound. Brandon Hinkle did his best to try to bail out Ratcliffe but a base hit to right just fell in front of right fielder Sean Hurley for the fifth run. Hinkle should have been out of the inning but a Segovia throwing error led to another run. On the same play of the Segovia error, Hinkle was able to tag out a runner between third and home in a heavy collision with Everett's Braden Bishop. Both players stayed on their feet and were okay. Hinkle got through the seventh with just one walk and struck out a batter. He hit 89 MPH on the radar gun.
Josh DeGraaf managed to dance around a pair of doubles and a single to keep Everett off the board in the eighth and ninth. Carl Wise started a nice 5-4-3 double play by ranging well to his left to clear the bases. That proved to be huge when the next hitter doubled but DeGraaf stranded him by getting Alex Jackson to fly out to right. Luis Liberato nearly began the ninth with a home run but the ball just landed off the top of the big wall in right field and had to settle for a double. DeGraaf struck out one and topped out at 91 MPH.
The C's were able to respond to Everett's four runs in the first with two of their own in the bottom half thanks to a Ryan Hissey single that scored an Andrew Guillotte walk and stolen base. Hissey would then score on a double by Sean Hurley. Wise extended the inning with a free pass but Rolando Segovia grounded out to end the threat. Segovia got an extra life at the plate after a popup caught in foul territory was ruled to be out of play. Despite the protestations of Everett manager and former Jays minor leaguer Rob Mummau, the call stood. There are roped off or squared areas next to each dugout to basically mark out of bounds territories for foul balls according to the ground rules as explained by the press box official. That marked the end of a long first inning that took at least 30 minutes.
Vancouver's best chance to tie the game or take the lead came in the sixth inning when they loaded the bases with one out on singles by Wise, Earl Burl III and Cardenas, whose base hit was kept in the infield by Everett shortstop Jordan Cowan. Had that ball gone through, Wise may have scored to tie the game. Unfortunately for the C's, they got nothing as Gunnar Heidt struck out and Andrew Guillotte flied out.
The C's tried again in the eighth when Wise reached base on a strikeout/passed ball to lead things off. Burl then hit a popup to short that Cowan appeared to drop on purpose to start a double play after Burl stopped running halfway to first. Cowan picked up the ball and flipped to second for a 6-4-3 twin killing. I don't know if Burl was injured but he was replaced by Connor Panas in left field for the top of the ninth. The C's got another runner on in the ninth when Heidt walked and stole second but Everett reliever Kyle Wilcox and his 95 MPH heater were too much to overcome.
Vancouver falls to 5-6 in the second half, one game behind Everett and Tri-City for first place in the NWL North Division. Evan Smith gets the start for the C's in a 7:05 pm first pitch tonight at The Nat.
Update - Jon Wandling was scheduled to start Tuesday in the 7:05 pm series finale with Blue Jays legend Devon White on hand to sign autographs. Instead, he and second baseman Lane Thomas are going up to Lansing while righthander Ryan Cook will make his way to Vancouver according to the Northwest League transactions page.
Wandling leaves Vancouver with a 1-4 record and a 4.66 earned run average. He struck out 34 and walked 11 over 46-1/3 innings. The 23 year-old righty from Evansville, Indiana made two appearances in Dunedin and got a victory before returning to B.C. this season. He was 2-0 with a 4.63 ERA in one start and three relief appearances with the C's last season.
Thomas hit .225/.257/.391 with the C's with 13 doubles, five home runs, 33 runs batted in and five stolen bases. The 19 year-old right-handed hitter batted .275 over his last 10 games. His home run and RBI totals placed him in the top five in the Northwest League.
Cook has spent the year in Dunedin, mostly with the Gulf Coast squad while mixing in two appearances with the Dunedin Jays this month. In a combined 17-1/3 innings, Cook has struck out 20 and walked six with a record of 2-2 and a 2.08 ERA.