Canadians lose despite strong relief effort by McAffer

Right-hander Will McAffer (North Vancouver, B.C.) tossed 2 1/3 scoreless innings in relief for the Vancouver Canadians on Wednesday. Photo: Vancouver Canadians/Twitter

September 15, 2021

Official Vancouver Canadians News Release

HILLSBORO, OR – A three-run inning proved to be the difference as the Vancouver Canadians dropped their second consecutive game to the Hillsboro Hops (Diamondbacks) 3-2 on Wednesday night at Ron Tonkin Field.

Trailing 3-1 to start the bottom of the ninth, Eric Rivera singled to right field then went to second on a fly out. Tanner Morris rapped a single to right field to score the runner then Will Robertson added a base hit to put two on with one out. After a fielder’s choice had men at the corners and a wild pitch moved the winning run into scoring position, a strikeout ended the game and handed the C’s a 3-2 defeat.

After four scoreless innings, Hillsboro broke the tie with three runs – two of which were unearned – on two hits, a walk and an error in the top of the fifth. Alex Nolan (L, 1-6) was otherwise solid over 4 2/3 innings. The Burlington, Ont., native allowed just three hits, walked two and K’d four over 20 batters faced.

The C’s got a run back in the bottom of the inning. Phil Clarke doubled, went to third on an infield single then scored on a double play that made it 3-1.

Wil McAffer, Gabriel Ponce and Jol Concepcion combined on 4 1/3 scoreless innings of relief to keep the game close, but the Canadians’ offence was kept off-balance by Hillsboro starter Justin Vernia (W, 4-5) thanks to his six innings of one-run ball.

Rivera paced the offence with two knocks while newcomer PK Morris collected the first base hit of his High-A career.

The series continues Thursday night. No. 13 Blue Jays prospect Sem Robberse gets the ball for Vancouver and will be opposed by Hillsboro’s Kyle Backhus.