Calamitous Canada Day Weekend Ends In Sweep

VANCOUVER, B.C. -- Canada Day is the equivalent of the United States Independence Day, celebrated three days earlier on July 1. It's a holiday weekend north of the border as citizens prepare for Monday's national party, celebrating the formation of the Dominion Of Canada in 1867. At this rate, the Vancouver Canadians will be celebrating a Northwest League second-half title well before the regular season runs its course in September.

The Canadians (9-0 second half, 39-33 overall) completed a six-game sweep over the Hillsboro Hops (1-8, 36-38) Sunday, winning a franchise-record ninth consecutive game with a 4-2 win in front of a sellout crowd of 6,413 at Nat Bailey Stadium.

One week after shutting down the Tri-City Dust Devils over seven innings with 12 strikeouts, right-handed pitcher Rafael Sanchez (4-1) limited the Hops to two runs on seven hits over 6 1/3 innings, striking out eight without a walk. Chay Yeager and Naswell Paulino combined for 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief with Paulino recording his first save since the 2019 season with a scoreless ninth inning.

Hops starter Jacob Steinmetz (2-4) could not make it out of the third inning, lifted after giving up two runs, three hits and two walks and throwing 31 pitches in that frame. Steinmetz had allowed leadoff singles in each of the first two innings, including a pair of hits in the first, but wiggled off the hook courtesy of a pair of double plays.

Je'von Ward drove in Jommer Hernandez with a sacrifice fly for the Canadians' first run. After Steinmetz's second walk of the inning loaded the bases, Peniel Otano came in and walked Nick Goodwin to force in Jace Bohrofen, giving Vancouver a 2-0 lead.

The C's made it 3-0 in the fifth. Bohrofen doubled with one out off Landon Sims, then came home on Peyton Williams's base hit to right.

The 6-5, 255 pound first baseman Williams finished 3-for-3 with two RBI, driving in Vancouver's final run with a sacrifice fly in the seventh off Yordin Chalas. Bohrofen had a pair of doubles, walked and scored twice in his most productive game of the week.

The Hops had back-to-back chances for big innings, but had to settle for single runs in the sixth and seventh. Hillsboro loaded the bases with none out in the sixth on consecutive singles by Gavin Logan, Jack Hurley and Jean Walters, but could only plate one run on a Conticello ground out. In the seventh, Hillsboro evicted Sanchez with a leadoff Pena single and one-out double from Juan Corniel. But with second and third and one out, again, only a groundout produced a run as Logan bounced out to short, plating Pena to make it 3-2.

Hillsboro did not push a runner past first over the final two innings as the Canadians nailed down their sixth save of the week from five different pitchers. It was Paulino's first save in 85 regular season appearances with Vancouver and the Dominican southpaw's first since saving two games for rookie-advanced level Bluefield back in 2019.

Manny Pena had his second consecutive two-hit game for the Hops, going 2-for-3 with a walk. Jean Walters singled in the sixth inning, giving the switch-hitting Cuban a hit in all six games of the week, including four hits on Wednesday and three on Thursday. Walters has hit in 10 of his last 11 games and is batting .348 during that span.

The Hops' losing streak extended to seven games and they have dropped eight of their last nine. Hillsboro will look to right the ship Monday night when they entertain the San Francisco Giants affiliate Eugene Emeralds for the first of a three-game series. There will be a fireworks show following the game on Wednesday, July 3. Then The Hops and Ems complete the split series with three games at Eugene's P.K. Park Thursday-Saturday with both teams getting consecutive days off Sunday and Monday. All three home games versus Eugene will start at 7:05 p.m. at HIllsboro Ballpark. The games at P.K. Park will be 6:35 p.m. contests. All six will be broadcast live on Rip City Radio 620 AM with pregame coverage beginning 15 minutes before scheduled first pitch.