How Sweep It Is: C's Make It Eight Straight

VANCOUVER, BC – To beat the same team six consecutive days in a row takes a whole lot of talent and a fair share of good luck. The Canadians have had both in spades this week as they wrapped their six-game set with the Hillsboro Hops (Diamondbacks) on Sunday with an 8-2 win that handed Vancouver its first sweep of a Northwest League opponent since the team became Toronto’s High-A club at the start of last season, much to the delight of a sellout crowd at Nat Bailey Stadium.

A three-run second proved to be the difference. Tyler Keenan doubled and Miguel Hiraldo singled to put runners at the corners with nobody out before Riley Tirotta started the scoring with a sacrifice fly. After a walk and a fielder’s choice, Steward Berroa doubled home a pair to make it 3-0 C’s.

Five runs in the fifth put the game away. Berroa got it started with a triple, Leo Jimenez was hit by a pitch and Zach Britton walked to bring Damiano Palmegiani to the plate with the bases loaded. The Surrey, BC native – who had homered earlier in the week for his first big fly at The Nat – lined a 2-2 pitch into the home bullpen in left to send the crowd into a frenzy with Vancouver’s fourth grand slam of 2022. Keenan doubled in the next at-bat and found his way to third after a walk and another plunking to set up Hugo Cardona’s sacrifice fly that put the Canadians in front 8-1.

On the mound, Alejandro Melean returned to action after nearly a month on the Injured List with two scoreless innings then handed the baton to Abdiel Mendoza (W, 5-0), who went three stanzas and allowed one run on three hits. Garrett Farmer, Will McAffer, Juan Nunez and Ryan Boyer all followed with one inning of relief apiece to keep the Hops at bay and secure an 8-2 win.

All nine starters reached base and six had at least one hit. Berroa finished his day a home run shy of the cycle while Palmeginai and Keenan wrapped up with four total bases each.

With the win, the C’s have won eight consecutive games for the second time in the last two seasons to match a franchise best since becoming a Blue Jays affiliate in 2011. They are 14-6 in the second half to put them at least 2.5 games ahead of second place heading into the All-Star Break and have improved to five games over .500 (44-39) for the first time since they were 8-3 on April 22.

Vancouver will enjoy a well-earned respite Monday through Thursday before heading to Spokane for a three-game set with the Indians (Rockies) beginning Friday night at 7:05pm. Coverage from Avista Stadium will be available on CanadiansBaseball.com and the Sportsnet Radio Network.