The Vancouver Canadians lost their second straight one-run game to the Spokane Indians after a 3-2 setback at Ron Tonkin Field Wednesday.
Vancouver struck first in the bottom of the third off Spokane starter Chris McMahon with a pair of one-out doubles to left field as D.J. Neal drove in Davis Schneider with the game’s first run.
Spokane evened the score in the fifth off C’s righty Paxton Schultz when Brenton Doyle‘s leadoff double was pushed to third on a Hunter Stovall ground before crossing the plate on a Kyle Datres sacrifice fly.
The wheels came off for Schultz in the sixth when he walked Cristopher Navarro and Isaac Collins over the first nine pitches of the frame. Jack Blomgren bunted his way on by laying one down the first base side to load the bases. Michael Toglia lifted a sac fly to score Navarro with the tie-breaking run before Doyle took Schultz deep to center for a three-run home run to make it 5-1 Spokane.
The Canadians responded with a run of their own in the sixth with a two-out rally. Ryan Gold reached base when Niko Decolati muffed a fly ball to left. Gold would rumble home when Luis De Los Santos singled to left.
Vancouver drew a little closer in the seventh against Spokane reliever Jake Sommers. An infield single to second by Schneider and base hits by Neal and Rafael Lantigua loaded the bases with one out. Tanner Morris found a hole on the right side of the infield for a base hit to score Schneider and Neal but Doyle threw out Lantigua trying to go to third on a 9-5 putout to take the steam out of the C’s comeback hopes.
C-Notes
Schultz got some help from his defence over the first two innings. Collins singled on the first pitch of the game but Gold threw him out trying to steal second. Schultz also managed to get out of the second inning unscathed despite a leadoff walk to Toglia and a triple by Stovall. That’s because he induced a 6-4-3 double play ball off the bat of Doyle before Stovall’s three-bagger.
After a three-up, three-down third, Jack Blomgren reached base on an error by Morris at short in the fourth but Gold threw out another runner trying to steal as Toglia—who reached base on a 4-6 fielder’s choice—was nailed at second to end the inning.
Adrian Hernandez was brought into the game after Doyle’s three-run homer in the sixth to get the final out of that frame. He pitched 1-1/3 innings of shutout ball with a hit by pitch being his only misstep as Cope took one for the team.
Roither Hernandez worked a clean eighth inning before surrendering a couple of singles to Stovall and Daniel Cope. Hernandez was helped out by John Aiello who made a tumbling catch into the first base seats in foul territory. Stovall tagged up and went to third base but Hernandez got Navarro to ground out to third to keep Spokane at bay.
Schultz was charged with five run on five hits and three walks over 5-2/3 innings. He struck out two and had the infield handle 11 of his 13 outs in play.
Adrian Hernandez struck out three over 1-1/3 shutout innings and Roither Hernandez worked around two hits over two scoreless frames.
The bottom two spots of the C’s batting order were the most productive. Schneider had a double and two singles and scored a pair of runs while Neal went 2-for-4 with a double and a run driven in.
Lantigua, Morris and De Los Santos had the other base hits with Morris drawing the only walk.
Vancouver took advantage of the opportunities that were presented to them but there weren’t enough of them. They were 4-for-6 with runners in scoring position, leaving five men on. C’s hitters were retired in order in the first, second, fourth, eighth and ninth innings. Morris’ RBI single in the seventh was the last time a Canadian reached base. The Canadians have always pushed the envelope running the bases but Lantigua getting caught trying to go to third on Morris’ single cost them in the end. You live by the sword, you die by the sword.
The C’s had a chance to add another run in the third after Neal’s run-scoring double. Neal tagged and went to third on Lantigua’s fly ball to center and Morris worked a two-out walk but Sebastian Espino struck out swinging.
The Canadians are now 28-29 on the season and remain 6-1/2 games back of Eugene for the second and final playoff spot in the High-A West. First-place Everett has a nine-game bulge on the C’s.
Willy Gaston will get his first start of the season for Vancouver Friday as they look to get back to the .500 mark. Mitch Kilkenny (good Irish name!) gets the call for Spokane. Game time is 7:05 pm on CanadiansBaseball.com.
Brian Rapp, C.J. Van Eyk and Adam Kloffenstein were originally listed as the probable starters for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. No word yet on how the rotation will reshuffle.
C’s Alumni Report
The Buffalo Bisons got back on track with a 4-3 win over Rochester Thursday.
- Riley Adams (2017) – 0/2, BB, HBP
- Cullen Large (2017)- 0/2, 2BB
- Logan Warmoth (2017) – 1/2, 2BB, 3R, SB
- Jackson McClelland (2015-2016) – 1.0IP 1H 0R/ER 0BB 1K
- Nick Allgeyer (2018) – 2.2IP 3H 1R/ER 2BB 4K
- Patrick Murphy (2016) – 1.0IP 1H 0R/ER 0BB 1K
The New Hampshire Fisher Cats were beaten again by Binghamton 5-1.
- Otto Lopez (2018) – 0/3, BB
- Vinny Capra (2018) – 1/4
- Tanner Kirwer (2018, 2021) – 2/3, BB
- Chris Bec (2018) – 1/4
- Marcus Reyes (2017-2018, 2021) – 3.0IP 2H 1R/ER 1BB 6K
- Mike Ellenbest (2016) – 2.0IP 0H 0R/ER 0BB 4K
Dunedin beat Tampa <a href="http://<!– wp:list –> <ul><li><strong>Otto Lopez</strong> (2018) – 0/3, BB</li><li><strong>Vinny Capra</strong> (2018) – 1/4</li><li><strong>Tanner Kirwer</strong> (2018, 2021) – 2/3, BB</li><li><strong>Chris Bec</strong> (2018) – 1/4</li><li><strong>Marcus Reyes </strong>(2017-2018, 2021) – 3.0IP 2H 1R/ER 1BB 6K</li><li><strong>Mike Ellenbest</strong> (2016) – 2.0IP 0H 0R/ER 0BB 4K</li></ul> 3-1 in the second game of a doubleheader. No need to mention the score of Game 1.
- Gabriel Ponce (2019) – 2.0IP 1H 1R/ER 2BB 3K HBP, SV (6)
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