Everett, WA -- Perhaps it was poetic justice for the Aquasox after base umpire Kyle Stutz missed a call that helped the Canadians erase a two-run deficit, that a pair of catchable baseball both fell for base hits in the bottom of the eighth inning to hand Everett a 5-3
Everett, WA -- Perhaps it was poetic justice for the Aquasox after base umpire Kyle Stutz missed a call that helped the Canadians erase a two-run deficit, that a pair of catchable baseball both fell for base hits in the bottom of the eighth inning to hand Everett a 5-3 victory on Saturday opening Vancouver's final series of the summer.
Luis De Los Santos (2) and Will Robertson (6) both hit solo home runs to keep the Canadians within striking distance of the Aquasox who heading into Saturday's opener were 11-4 vs. Vancouver over fifteen games. Juan Diaz went five innings allowing three runs on six hits before Luke Gillingham spun a pair of scoreless innings.
Down 3-1, Vancouver found a pair of runs off Garrett Westberg in the top of the eighth inning that saw Robertson's home run and a base hit from Cameron Eden that scored Luis De Los Santos to even the game at 3-3. Seconds before Eden's RBI, McGregory Contreras rounded third base on a play where he thought the infield defence was efforting toward first base. Conner Hoover opted to throw the ball with two outs to Luis Joseph who applied a tag to Contreras who had veered around third only to slide back toward the base. He was called safe much to the chagrin of nearly 2,900 fans giving the Canadians a second lease on the inning.
Kyle Huckaby made his Canadians debut in the home half of the eighth and got two quick outs before a pair of plays tilted the game back toward the Aquasox. A routine fly ball above first baseman Brett Wright was dropped keeping the inning alive. Pinch runner Utah Jones was brought in and the decision paid off as the next hitter, Luis Joseph, hit a catchable fly ball out to McGregory Contreras who struggled and over ran the ball, allowing Jones to score from first base giving the Aquasox a lead they would not relinquish.
Vancouver falls to 30-44 on the season and have now lost three straight, Huckaby takes the hard luck loss, his first as a Canadian.
The Canadians play the midddle game of this series on Sunday, September 1st at 4:05pm. The game can be heard live and in its entirety on Sportsnet 650.
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