Yesavage, Bonds, Stanifer Combine On Shutout Win

VANCOUVER, BC – Trey Yesavage and Gage Stanifer combined on 8.1 dominant innings in a 1-0 Canadians win over the Hillsboro Hops [AZ] Saturday afternoon at The Nat, leading the C’s to their league-best fifth shutout win of the season.

Yesavage – MLB Pipeline’s #2 Blue Jays prospect – started the afternoon by retiring the first eight batters he faced before issuing a two-out walk in the third. He stranded that runner thanks to a highlight reel-worthy catch from left fielder Jackson Hornung then left another two-out walk on base in the fourth before the Canadians rallied in the home half of the inning.

Victor Arias sparked the frame with a one-out single then moved to third on an Aaron Parker base hit. Sean Keys served the next pitch into left for a go-ahead knock that proved to be the game-winning swing.

With Yesavage back on the mound to start the fifth for the first time as a Canadian, the righty struck out the first hitter of the inning – his fifth and final K – then walked back-to-back batters to end his afternoon. Yesavage’s final line 4.1 IP / 0 H / 0 R / 4 BB / 5 K.

Bo Bonds was called upon with the tying and go-ahead runs on base. He promptly stranded both with a pop out and a fly out to keep the C’s in front 1-0.

From there, Gage Stanifer (S, 1) did the rest. The Indianapolis, IN native retired the side in order in the sixth before giving up a soft single to start the seventh, Hillsboro’s lone hit of the day. He induced a double play in the next at-bat then ended the inning with his third of seven strikeouts.

Stanifer issued a walk in each of the final two innings but both times limited any further traffic, including consecutive strikeouts to seal the win. Hornung paced the offence with three hits – including a double – while Arias joined him in a multi-hit effort with two singles, a steal and a run scored.

With the victory, the Canadians improve to 23-27 on the year and secure their first six-game series win of the season. It’s the first time they’ve won a one-run game since April 27 at Everett, a 9-8 win in 10 innings. The C’s are now 2-12 in games decided by a single score.

The series with Hillsboro wraps up tomorrow afternoon at 1:05 p.m. Vancouver has a chance to take five of six from the first-place Hops and gain more ground from sixth place in the Northwest League Standings; the C’s are four games back with 16 left to play in the first half.