After falling behind by a run heading to the bottom of the 2nd inning, Canadians 3B Bryan Lizardo and LF McGregory Contreras both hit solo home runs in the home half of the 2nd to power the Vancouver Canadians to a 3-2 victory over Salem-Keizer on Saturday night in front of a sold-out crowd.
Canadians RHP Josh Winckowski (1-2) went six innings pacing the pitching staff for his first win of the summer allowing four hits and a pair of earned runs.
This was just before LHP Marcus Reyes (2.0IP) and RHP Cobi Johnson (1.0IP) pitched the final three frames limiting the Volcanoes to just three hits.
San Francisco Giants RHP Sean Hjelle (jelly) made his professional debut with the Volcanoes as the 2nd round draft pick from Mahtomedi (MN) pitched the bottom of the 1st inning allowing a run on three hits with 1B Jake Brodt scoring SS Vincent Capra on a single to center field giving the Canadians a 1-0 lead.
Salem-Keizer RHP Stetson Woods would come in to pitch the 2nd inning and allow solo home runs to both Lizardo and Contreras which would be the only runs he allowed over his six innings of work.
He would not allow a hit over his final five innings despite taking his first loss of the season.
With the win, Vancouver improves to 7-9 (.438) while Salem-Keizer falls to 10-6 (.625) with game three of this five-game series set for Sunday, July 1st at 1:05 pm.
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July 1st “Holiday Monday”
A five-run outburst that had home runs from DH Chris Bec and C Brett Wright helped Vancouver (8-10) take its second straight series with a 5-0 shutout victory over the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes (11-7) on holiday Monday afternoon in front of another sold out, sun-soaked crowd at Scotiabank Field.
After pitching took center stage through the first half of the game, Vancouver’s offense exploded for five runs in the home half of the 5th inning.
This featured a pair of long balls as Brett Wright hit a solo home for his 2nd round tripper of the season while Chris Bec hit his first professional home run onto the “hey y’all!” porch, a two-run shot to help extend the Canadians lead to 5-0.
Vancouver saw four pitchers combine on the Monday afternoon shutout as RHP Sean Wymer (3.0IP, 2H, 1SO), RHP Justin Watts (3.0IP, 1H, 6SO), RHP Joey Murray (2.0IP, 3H, 5SO) and North Vancouver’s RHP Will McAffer (1.0IP, 1SO) helped the Canadians improve to 5-2 (.714) on this current eight-game homestand.
Notes:
Vancouver now trails both Tri-City and Everett by 1 ½ games for first place in North Division with 20 first-half games remaining.
The Canadians have outscored Salem-Keizer 23-8 through the first four games of the series.
This marks the first time the Canadians have shut-out an opponent in 2018 (Vancouver has allowed one-run on three occasions).
The Canadians will wrap-up this series vs. Salem-Keizer on Tuesday, July 3rd at 7:05pm as RHP Randy Pondler (0-3, 5.14) goes opposite RHP Keaton Winn (0-0, 1.50).
The first 1,000 fans to Tuesday’s finale with receive a Canadians Cap presented by The Keg Steakhouse + Bar.
Tickets are still available and can be purchased by calling 604.872.5232, online at www.canadiansbaseball.com or by visiting the Nat Bailey Stadium Box Office at 4601 Ontario Street, Vancouver, B.C.
