The Nooner ‘Not at the Nat’ at Avista Stadium was not a good one for the Vancouver Canadians as they were blanked 8-0 by the Spokane Indians Thursday.
Spokane took its first lead of the series in the second inning when Niko Decolati bunted his way aboard and made it all the way to third when Luis Quinones‘ throw to first missed the mark. Quinones then balked Decolati home for the game’s first run.
The home side doubled their lead off Quinones in the fourth. Hunter Stovall and Luke Morgan worked back-to-back walks with one before pulling off a double steal. Quinones then threw a wild pitch that allowed Stovall to score.
Cobi Johnson took over on the mound in the fifth for Vancouver and he gave up a one-out double to Willie MacIver that scored a Brenton Doyle base hit. Johnson then balked MacIver over to third but managed to keep the damage to a single run.
Stovall and Morgan got another rally started for Spokane in the sixth with another pair of walks. They eventually scored on a two-out single by Aaron Schunk to up Spokane’s lead to 5-0.
Spokane continued to pour it on in the eight as Stovall ignited another rally with a leadoff walk against Willy Gaston. Cristopher Navarro had a one-out single before Isaac Collins homered for the second time in as many days to give Spokane ahead by eight. Gaston would plunk MacIver two batters later and that led to the ejection of C’s manager Donnie Murphy by home plate umpire Kevin Mandzuk. It appeared Murphy believed MacIver could have gotten out of the way of that pitch.
C-Notes
Quinones pitched a one-hitter but struck out eight but walked six in four innings to take the loss. One of the two runs was unearned but that was because of his own throwing error that led to the first run of the game.
Johnson was jolted for three runs on three hits over two innings, striking out two and walking two. Gaston gave up the other three runs on three hits, a walk and a hit by pitch in the ninth.
Parker Caracci was the best pitcher for Vancouver on the day with a three-up, three-down seventh that included a pair of groundouts.
Ryan Feltner kept the Vancouver bats in check over five innings. Feltner hit Luis De Los Santos with a pitch (make that eight Spokane HBPs in the series!) and gave up a two-out single to Rafael Lantigua but struck out Davis Schneider to end the second inning.
Ryan Gold had the only extra-base for Vancouver with two outs in the fourth. Clarke’s leadoff walk in the sixth led to Feltner being replaced Derrik Watson. Rivera was the last Vancouver baserunner after he drew his second walk to start the sixth but Jake Sommers got Kirwer to hit into a 6-4-3 double play. P.J. Poulin retired the side in order for Spokane in the ninth.
Eric Rivera worked a leadoff walk against Feltner in the third but was caught stealing second base. Tanner Kirwer reached base after Michael Toglia could not hang on to Feltner’s throw at first base. Kirwer got to second on a Philip Clarke groundout and was wild pitched over to third but Cameron Eden struck out.
Vancouver and Spokane will play under the lights again Friday in a 7:05 pm start. The C’s have yet to announce a starting pitcher for that game which will be carried on CanadiansBaseball.com.
Congratulations to my former podcast partner Ben Steiner for his latest gig with CBC.
C’s Alumni Report
Cullen Large (2017) hit his first Triple-A home run and was hit by a pitch but the Bisons lost to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 3-2 in the first game of their doubleheader. In the second game, Large finished 2-for-2 with two walks as the Herd derailed the RailRiders 10-0. Nash Knight (2016) walked twice and Logan Warmoth (2017) had a single. Nate Pearson (2017) fired five shutout innings and scattered three hits and three walks. He struck out six and had five outs on the ground. Patrick Murphy (2016) worked a one-hit sixth and struck out a batter.
The New Hampshire Fisher Cats were 5-3 winners over Portland. A two-run double by Otto Lopez (2018) highlighted a three-hit night and Samad Taylor (2018) had an RBI single in a 2-for-4 effort that included a walk. Chris Bec (2018) had a pair of base hits and Reggie Pruitt (2017) singled in a run. Kevin Vicuña (2017) had an RBI groundout. Troy Miller (2018, 2021) got the win with six innings of three-run ball on four hits and three walks while whiffing five. Fitz Stadler (2018) got a hold with two-third of a scoreless frame with two strikeouts and Brody Rodning (2017) pitched the final 2-1/3 innings, allowing no hits and just one walk. He struck out three and stranded two runners to collect the Fisher Cats first save of the year. Josh Winckowski (2018) started this one for Portland. He got a no-decision as he held New Hampshire to a pair of runs on six hits and a walk while striking out five over 5-2/3 innings.
Jon Berti (2011) doubled, singled, drove in a run and scored one as Miami crushed Colorado 11-4.
C-Tweets
C's Plus Baseball | A Vancouver Canadians Blog 