The Vancouver Canadians were unable to get above the .500 mark for the first time in three years. They fell to 3-4 on the year after a 4-3 loss to the Spokane Indians in 10 innings at Ron Tonkin Field in Hillsboro, Oregon Tuesday.
Spokane scored the winning run with a Brenton Doyle sacrifice bunt to Canadians pitcher Hagen Danner and a Michael Toglia sacrifice fly to center field to score Aaron Schunk, the runner placed at second to begin the top of the 10th inning.
The Canadians matched the sacrifice bunt in the bottom of the 10th as Cameron Eden dropped one down the first base side to advance Tanner Morris to third base. Spencer Horwitz could not bring Morris home as grounded out to third. Philip Clarke drew a walk but Luis De Los Santos flied out to right field to end the game.
Spokane got to Vancouver starter Sean Wymer for a run in the first. Eddy Diaz reached on an infield single to short on the second pitch of the game. On the next pitch, Schunk was called out on batter interference. Diaz would later steal second and made it to third when Doyle picked up an infield single to short. De Los Santos knocked the ball down to prevent Diaz from scoring. However, Toglia’s sac fly to De Los Santos in shallow left field plated Diaz with the first run.
The visitors scored again off Wymer in the second with a two-out rally that saw Jack Blomgren double home a John Cresto base hit.
Vancouver responded with a Tanner Kirwer solo home run to left field to begin the third inning to cut Spokane’s lead to 2-1. Kirwer homered off Colorado’s 2020 2nd round pick Chris McMahon.
The Canadians pulled over in the sixth inning against Spokane reliever Boby Johnson. Horwitz and Clarke reached base on one-out walks and advanced into scoring position on a wild pitch. De Los Santos lined a single to center to score Horwitz for the tying run before L.J. Talley‘s groundout to second cash in Clarke with the go-ahead run to make it 3-2.
The lead did not last as Spokane battled back in the seventh against lefty Marcus Reyes who set down the visitors in order in his first two innings of work. Blomgren doubled to center but was cut down at third base when he tried to advance on a grounder to short but De Los Santos threw him out. However, Diaz would steal second and got to third on a Clarke throwing error from behind the plate. A Schunk sacrifice fly scored Diaz with the tying run.
The win for Spokane was their second in seven tries.
C-Notes
The C’s lost right fielder Will Robertson after a diving catch in right field in the third inning. It appeared he injured his wrist on the play. Robertson singled in his lone at-bat in the second inning before being pinch-hit for by Rafael Lantigua. Kirwer took over in right field for Robertson while Lantigua replaced Kirwer in left.
Vancouver had baserunners on in the first four innings but all the rallies began with two out.
- 1st inning – Eden singled and stole second in the first
- 2nd inning – Robertson singled and Talley walked
- 4th inning – Talley singled
The C’s tried their luck with a one-out rally in the seventh when Kirwer dropped a bunt single against P.J. Poulin in the seventh and stole second base but he would stranded there.
Another two-out rally in the ninth resulted in zero runs. Shelby Lackey issued a walk to Davis Schneider—in his first game back with Vancouver since 2019—and went to second on a Kirwer single to left but they made it no further. Lackey got the win after Trent Fennell locked it down in the 10th for the save.
Kirwer had three hits and two stolen bases while Eden stole one for a share of the team lead with five apiece. Spokane’s Diaz leads the High-A West League with six. The base stealing trio have yet to be thrown out this year.
The only time the C’s got a leadoff man aboard was Kirwer’s homer in the third. Vancouver was 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position with 10 men left on base.
Parker Caracci relieved Reyes in the eighth and managed to avoid giving up a run despite two walks and a base hit. Willie MacIver‘s one-out walk was taken care of by Clarke who threw out MacIver trying to swipe second. Niko Decolati singled and swiped second base but Caracci struck out Cresto for the final out.
Sam Ryan worked a clean ninth with two groundouts and a pop-up to second on 13 pitches to give Vancouver a chance for a walk-off win.
If you guessed right-hander Andrew McInvale would be the first player from Vancouver to be promoted to New Hampshire, you would be rich. The 37th round pick from Liberty University in 2019 by the Toronto Blue Jays was sent eastbound after a 6-1 strikeout/walk ratio in four innings.
Getting bumped from Dunedin to Vancouver is 2019 18th round pick Brandon Eisert. The left-hander from Oregon State posted a 0.00 ERA in two appearances with the D-Jays.
The Canadians play Spokane again in a 7:05 pm start at Ron Tonkin Field. Troy Miller is listed as the probable starter. The game can be heard on CanadiansBaseball.com and Sportsnet.
C’s Alumni Report
Bad news for 2014 C’s shortstop Franklin Barreto. The current Los Angeles Angel is out for the season as he will undergo Tommy John surgery on his right elbow.
2015 Canadians pitcher Conor Fisk has signed a minor-league deal with the Colorado Rockies.
Nash Knight (2016) hit a three-run homer and walked twice and Logan Warmoth went 2-for-5 but Buffalo lost to Rochester 6-3 in 10 innings. Cullen Large (2017) had a single and a stolen base. Nick Allgeyer (2018) was in line for the win after six innings on one-run ball on five three and three walks with four strikeouts. Tyler Saucedo (2015) worked a one-hit seventh with one strikeout.
2017 C’s Chavez Young and Samad Taylor had two hits apiece with Young doubling and Taylor stealing a base as New Hampshire walked off Somerset 6-5 in their home opener. Brody Rodning yielded an unearned run in two innings but struck out two.
Jonathan Davis (2014) had a double and scored a run and Cavan Biggio (2016) drew a bases-loaded walk to help Toronto come back to beat Atlanta 5-3.
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