(Ron Tonkin Field - Hillsboro, OR) - Hillsboro reliever RHP Matt Brill watched in disbelief as a low line drive off the bat of Canadians LF Norberto Obeso stayed fair as it travelled down the third base line thus breaking up the Hops hopes of a no-hitter with no one
(Ron Tonkin Field - Hillsboro, OR) - Hillsboro reliever RHP Matt Brill watched in disbelief as a low line drive off the bat of Canadians LF Norberto Obeso stayed fair as it travelled down the third base line thus breaking up the Hops hopes of a no-hitter with no one out in the top of the 9th inning. Obeso's seeing-eye single was the only hit on the night for the Canadians who fell 6-0 to Hillsboro on Saturday night out at Ron Tonkin Field.
Four Hops pitchers combined on the one-hit shutout bid with RHP Kevin McCanna pulling a majority of the weight going 5 1/3 innings of no-hit baseball in relief of starter RHP Brian Shaffer who went the game's first two innings. McCanna struck out nine Canadians hitters including all three that he faced in the top of the 7th inning (Vicuna, Clemens & Jacob). RHP Matt Brill came in due to a pitch limit and got 3B Bryan Lizardo to hit into an inning-ending double-play sending the game to the 9th inning with the no-hit bid still intact.
In the top of the 9th inning, Hillsboro manager Shawn Roof opted not to go to his closer RHP Erbert Gonzalez with the six-run lead, but eventually had to as Canadians LF Norberto Obeso smacked a single off of Brill, past 3B Drew Ellis that saw the bid end after eight full innings. Brill would then walk both CF Reggie Pruitt and 2B Kevin Vicuña to load the bases without an out so Roof had to go to his closer as RHP Erbert Gonzalez burned through the next three hitters to secure the shutout victory getting 1B Kacy Clemens (strikeout), RF David Jacob (strikeout) and C Riley Adams (flyout to right) to end the game.
With the loss, Vancouver falls to 4-6 (.400) through 10 second half games and 25-23 (.521) overall while the Hops improve to 6-4 and 28-20 (.583) on the season.
Vancouver and Hillsboro will play game four of this five-game series on Sunday, August 6th at 4:05pm out at Ron Tonkin Field as the Canadians send LHP Colton Laws (0-0, 0.00) to the mound in search of a victory that would even this series up with the finale set for Monday at 7:05pm.
Vancouver Canadians Baseball returns to historic Scotiabank Field at Nat Bailey Stadium on Tuesday, August 8th at 7:05pm as they open up an eight-game homestand vs. Tri-City (August 8-10) and Salem-Keizer (August 11-15) with tickets available at www.canadiansbaseball.com
