Canadians go 4-4 on road trip to begin second half with three shutout wins

After falling short in their bid for the first-half pennant in the North Division, the Vancouver Canadians opened the second half with an eight-game road trip which saw them play three in Spokane followed by five in Eugene. Though the Canadians started well, winning three of their first three contests, they proceeded to drop three in a row before needing salvaging the finale to post a .500 record on the trip.

Spokane Series, July 23-25, 2013

The Canadians opened the second half with back-to-back 2-0 shutout wins over the Spokane Indians, with RHP Jeremy Gabryszwski and LHP Colton Turner tossing gems for Vancouver. First, it was Gabryszwski (4-1, 0.99) pitching six innings of one-hit ball with no walks and two strikeouts, along with 1B L.B. Dantzler's fourth home run of the summer, giving the C's the opening-game victory. RHP Chuck Ghysels also pitched in by tossing a scoreless ninth inning for his fifth save of the season. Next up, it was Turner (3-3, 2.22) with six shutout innings in the second game, allowing four hits with a walk and two strikeouts, leading the C's to a second straight 2-0 triumph. Though the Canadians hitters struck out 11 times on the night--including RF Ian Parmley and LF Brenden Kalfus with three apiece--Vancouver finally ended a scoreless tie in the top of the sixth inning on 2B Andy Fermin's sacrifice fly (scoring DH Dickie Thon from third base) and C Michael Reeves' RBI single (scoring L.B. Dantzler from third). RHP Matt Johnson worked the ninth inning for his first save. 

In the series finale, the C's pitching again came through, as staff ace RHP Eric Brown allowed only two runs (one earned) on five hits over six strong innings. However, the C's managed only one run on three hits off Indians starter Kyle Castro and were shut out over the final four innings by the Spokane bullpen, as Vancouver fell 2-1. It was Brown's first loss of the season, dropping him to 5-1 with a 1.37 ERA. It was also Brown's final appearance for the Canadians, as the Thunder Bay (ON) native and former UBC Thunderbirds ace was called up shortly after to Lansing of the Midwest League.

In honour of Brown's call-up to Lansing, here's a vintage video of him and Zack Breault (who had retired earlier this year) in a fun Trivia Tuesday segment.

Eugene Series, July 26-July 30, 2013

In Eugene, the Canadians opened the series with a 4-3 victory on Friday, July 26, improving their second-half record to 3-1. However, they proceeded to drop the next three games by scores of 5-2, 9-8, and 5-3, including the heart-breaking defeat on July 28 which saw Jeremy Gabryszwski get knocked around for six runs before Vancouver rallied to take the lead only to see Matt Johnson cough it up in the eighth inning.

In that contest, the Canadians took a 1-0 lead in the second inning before Eugene rallied for two runs in the fourth and four more in the fifth to take a commanding 6-1 advantage. Remarkably, the C's struck for seven runs in the top of the sixth inning--highlighted by L.B. Dantzler's sixth home run, Brenden Kalfus' two-run double, Ian Parmley's run-scoring single, and an RBI single by Dantzler (batting for the second time in the inning--and Vancouver had an 8-6 lead. The Emeralds, however, cut the deficit to 8-7 in the bottom half of the sixth before RF Hunter Renfroe smacked a two-run home run two innings later off Johnson (with 2B Michael Bass on first base via a one-out walk). In the loss, Dantzler went 2-for-5 to raise his batting average to .313, while 1B Dan Arcila also went 2-for-4 with a double, RBI, and run scored.

In the series finale on July 30, the C's scored seven runs but there was no comeback by the Emeralds this time around, as LHP Shane Dawson (from Drayton Valley, Alberta) made his Canadians debut and tossed four shutout innings of one-hit ball with two walks and six strikeouts in Vancouver's 7-0 victory. Matt Dermody (3-1) picked up the win in relief, pitching two innings of one-hit ball with no walks and four strikeouts. Though Eugene's Erik Cabrera pitched well (two earned runs on five hits over four innings with four strikeouts), he was still tagged with the loss to fall to 0-6 on the summer. Dan Arcilia (his first), Brenden Kalfus (his first), and L.B. Dantzler (his seventh) all homered for the C's. But the story of the game was Dawson, who gave the C's four spectacular innings after being promoted to Vancouver from Bluefield (Appalachian League).

With Everett having won the first-half pennant, Vancouver would need to either 1) outright win the second half or 2) finish with a better record than division rivals Spokane and Tri-City should Everett win the second half again, in order to make the playoffs. With the 7-0 victory in the finale against Eugene, the C's finished their road trip 4-4 and now head home to take on Hillsboro for five games at Scotiabank Field.