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A three-run double by Chris Bec provided the winning margin for the C’s Saturday.

The Vancouver Canadians won the opening game of a series for the first time in three tries. The C’s came away with a 7-4 victory over the Spokane Indians at Avista Stadium Saturday night in a rematch of last year’s North Division final.

C's RecapSpokane scored the game’s first run in their first at-bat when Julio Pablo Martinez worked a leadoff walk against C’s lefthander Jordan Barrett. He would get to third after stealing second and advancing on a throwing error by Christopher Bec. A Diosbel Arias ground out to second would plate Martinez with the game’s first run.

Vancouver responded with a run of their own in the second. McGregory Contreras reached base on an error by Arias at third and Sterling Guzman was hit by a pitch from Tal Tiedemann. Tanner Kirwer bunted the runners over 90 feet before a Vinny Capra grounder to second scored Contreras.

The Indians would break the 1-1 tie in their half of the second when Isaias Quiroz got a two-out double to score a leadoff single from Starling Joseph.

The C’s would even things up again in the top of the third when Jake Brodt punched a single to center with one out. He would get all the way to third on Cristian Inoa‘s throwing error at short that allowed Nick Podkul to reach base. A groundout to short by Bryan Lizardo would bring home Brodt with the tying run.

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Sterling Guzman gave Vancouver the lead for good with a bases loaded walk in the fifth.

Vancouver would finally bust out in the fifth inning by loading up the bases on a Podkul walk, a Lizardo single and a Contreras hit by pitch. Tiedemann exited the mound in favour of Chandler Sanburn and he was torched on a bases-loaded walk to Guzman that gave the C’s the lead. One out later, Sanburn walked Capra with the bases loaded before Bec cleared them by lining a double to left to make it a 7-2 game for the visitors.

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Jordan Barrett gave up three runs and struck out eight in 5-2/3 innings to earn the victory in Spokane Saturday.

Spokane got one run back on a home run by Obie Ricumstrict off Barrett in the fifth. Barrett would get strikeouts of Arias and Curtis Terry in the sixth before losing Joseph on ball four. Juan Nunez came into the game and struck out Francisco Ventura to strike out the side.

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Juan Nunez struck out four in 2-1/3 innings of relief and stranded a runner in Spokane.

Nunez got through the seventh and eighth innings with no runs before giving way to Cobi Johnson in the ninth. Inoa would connect for a one-out solo dinger and Quiroz would single afterwards but Johnson struck out Ricumstrict and got Martinez to fly out to end the game.

C-Notes

C's NotesIt did not look like it was going to be the Canadians night after the first inning. Bec doubled with one out but he was thrown out trying to advance to third when Griffin Conine hit one back to the mound. Brodt would single in his first Northwest League at-bat and Podkul walked to load the bases. Lizardo would fly out to left to leave the bases loaded.

The fourth inning saw Capra taking one for the team and Bec picking up a single with one out but Conine and Brodt struck out after Kirwer also went down swinging to begin the frame

A Podkul walk in the sixth off Sanborn and a Brodt double in the eighth against Blake Bass did not produce a run. Contreras doubled off Francisco Villegas in the ninth but was thrown out at the plate trying to score on a Kirwer single to center.

Bec and Brodt made up two-thirds of the C’s hit total with three apiece. Podkul reached base three times on ball four. Capra had a productive 0-for-4 by picking up two RBI. The C’s drew six walks and managed to win this one despite going 2-for-17 with runners in scoring position and leaving a dozen men on base.

Conine was 0-for-5 in his C’s debut but he did make a key defensive contribution in this one to end the bottom of the fourth.

Pitching-wise, Barrett gave up three runs (two earned) on four hits and three walks over 5-2/3 innings to pick up his first Northwest League win. He struck out nine and four of his six outs in play were on the ground. Nunez walked one batter and struck out four in 2-1/3 innings. Johnson gave up a run on two hits but struck out one.

Game 2 of this series will be played at 3:30 pm Sunday. Josh Winckowski is listed as the probable starter for Vancouver. Lefthander Elio Silva is slated to start Monday’s finale at 6:30 pm. Those games can be heard on CanadiansBaseball.com with Rob Fai.

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Published by Niall O'Donohoe

My name is Niall O’Donohoe and I am an avid follower of baseball. My blog beginnings began in 2007 with Batter’s Box under the alias #2JBrumfield. The blog formerly known as Niall On Baseball, C’s Plus Baseball strives to deliver plus coverage of the C’s through photos, observations and interviews of the players striving to make it to the major leagues. If you like what you see here, please spread the word about CsPlusBaseball.ca through your favourite social media platform. This blog began just before the C's championship season in 2017 and the goal is to deliver awesome content about Canada’s only affiliated professional minor league baseball club. Thanks a million for being here!

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