The Vancouver Canadians rallied from seven- and two-run deficits to beat the Spokane Indians 10-9 in 11 innings at Avista Stadium Wednesday.
Spokane scored a converted touchdown on C’s starter C.J. Van Eyk in the first inning. Isaac Collins singled on the first pitch of the game and Daniel Montano did likewise with an infield knock to short on pitch number three. A wild pitch moved both runners up 90 feet before Luis De Los Santos‘ throwing error at short on an Aaron Schunk ground ball led to Collins crossing the plate with the first run. A walk to Michael Toglia loaded the bases before Hunter Stovall‘s ball four scored Montano to make it 2-0 Spokane. A one-out walk to Harris brought home Schunk before a Javier Guevara double drove in Toglia and Stoval for runs four and five. Cristopher Navarro reached second on a second error from De Los Santos and that allowed Harris to score. Collins got his second at-bat of the inning and lifted a sacrifice fly to score Guevara with Spokane’s seventh run.
Vancouver began the comeback with two runs off Spokane starter Will Ethridge in the second inning. Ryan Gold drew a leadoff walk before being forced out by a Philip Clarke grounder to second but Clarke would score all the way from first on a double to left by Will Robertson to put the C’s on the board. Rafael Lantigua singled to right to drive in Robertson but was thrown out trying to extend his single into a double.
The C’s continued to chip away in the fourth when Clarke made it aboard when Stovall booted a grounder at second. Robertson ripped another double to left to get Clarke to third before Lantigua launched a three-run home run to right to cut Spokane’s lead to two.
After going to the opposite field with his first two doubles, Robertson crossed up the Spokane defence by pulling a double to right with one out in the sixth. Robertson ran over to third on a wild pitch before scoring on Lantigua’s infield single to short to make it a one-run game. Alex Moore replaced Ethridge on the mound and got Zac Cook to hit into a 3-6 inning-ending double play.
The C’s tied it at 7-7 in the seventh. Luis De Los Santos hit a one-out double to center off Moore and scored on a Tanner Morris base hit to right. Morris was cut down at second trying to go for a double.
Spokane would grab the lead again in the bottom half of the seventh. Schunk was plunked by an Adrian Hernandez pitch to start the frame and stole second with one out. Stovall then singled to left to send Schunk home with the go-ahed run. Stovall proceeded to swipe second and advanced to third on a balk before Datres’ sac fly sent him home to give Spokane a 9-7 advantage.
The Canadians tied it again in the ninth when Gold was plunked on a 3-2 pitch to begin the eighth before Robertson took Moore deep with a two-run shot to right-center field with one out.
In the top of the 11th with Lantigua starting the inning at second base, Cook flied out to right to advance Lantigua to third before another fly ball to right by D.J. Neal off Fineas Del Bonta-Smith allowed Lantigua to tag up and score the winning run.
C-Notes
The Canadians hit into inning-ending double plays in the third and fourth. Morris’ one-out single was erased on a 6-3 double play off the bat of Spencer Horwitz. Cook and Neal got on base with a walk and a single respectively after Lantigua’s home run but De Los Santos hit into a 6-4-3 twin-killing.
The C’s had a chance to win it in the 10th after a Clarke fly ball to right advanced Gold to third after starting the inning at second base but Robertson struck out swinging and Lantigua grounded out to short.
Robertson belted his first home of the season to go along with three doubles for a four-hit night while Lantigua drove in five with a pair of RBI singles to sandwich his fifth dinger of the year. Morris had the other multi-hit game with a pair of hits. Cook was on base three times with a single and two walks. Gold got aboard twice with a walk and a hit by pitch. The C’s were 4-for-9 with runners in scoring position, leaving five men on.
Van Eyk overcame a tough first inning to pitch into the fifth. He surrendered seven runs (four earned) over 4-2/3 innings on four hits and four walks and struck out six. Van Eyk got nine outs on the ground over his 80-pitch outing. He stranded a one-out double by Harris in the third and overcame a leadoff walk to Collins and a stolen base by Schunk by retiring the next three hitters in a row.
Hernandez stranded a runner for Van Eyk, keeping Datres at giving up two runs on a hit and a hit by pitch over three innings with five strikeouts.
Justin Maese got the win with 2-1/3 innings of scoreless ball, striking out two after allowing two hits and a walk. He stranded two men in the eighth and overcame a hit and wild pitch in the ninth to send the game into extra innings.
In the 10th, Maese had to deal with Harris who began the inning at second base. Guevara bunted Harris over to third with one away and tried to score on a grounder to short from pinch-hitter Niko Decolati but he was thrown out on a 6-2-5 play. Decolati managed to get to second during the rundown but was left 180 feet away when Maese got Collins to fly out to left.
Cobi Johnson collected his first save of the year with a perfect 11th thanks to a pair of strikeouts, keeping Jack Blomgren glued to second base.
Vancouver and Spokane share identical records of 34-40 and are eight games behind Eugene for a playoff spot in the High-A West.
The Canadians go with Adam Kloffenstein and Spokane counters with Breiling Eusebio in a 6:30 pm contest on CanadiansBaseball.com.
2017 Vancouver Canadians catcher Riley Adams is now a member of the Washington Nationals organization. He was traded to the Nats by the Blue Jays for reliever Brad Hand. Adams made his major league debut with the Jays earlier this year and was a member of the 2017 Northwest League champion Canadians after hitting .305 with 20 extra-base hits and 35 RBI. This year, he clubbed seven home runs and posted a .371 on-base percentage in 35 games with the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons.
2015 Canadians righty Jon Harris is off to Triple-A Buffalo. The Blue Jays first round from six years ago posted a 2.15 earned run average and struck out 24 over 29-1/3 innings with Double-A New Hampshire.
C’s Alumni Report
Buffalo beat Worcester 5-1 Wednesday.
- Cullen Large – 2/3, 2B, SF, 2RBI, R
- Riley Adams – 1/4
- Logan Warmoth – 1/4, R
- Richard Ureña – 3/4, 2B, RBI
- Zach Logue – 4.0IP 0H 0R/ER 1BB 8K, 3GO
New Hampshire downed Portland 5-1 in Game 1 of their doubleheader.
- Chavez Young – 1/4, HR (4)
- Otto Lopez – 1/2, 2BB, RBI
- Samad Taylor – 2/4, RBI
- Nick Podkul – 1/4, HR (5), 3RBI
- Tanner Kirwer – 1/3
New Hampshire completed the sweep with a 3-2 win over Portland in Game 2.
- Chavez Young – 2/4, 3B, RBI
- L.J. Talley – 0/2, BB
- Samad Taylor – 1/3
- Marcus Reyes – 2.1IP 1H 0R/ER 0BB 4K, 2/2 inherited runners/stranded
- Connor Law – 1.0IP 0H 0R/ER 0BB 1K (W, 1-0)
- Graham Spraker – 2.0IP 0H 0R/ER 0BB 4K (SV, 1)
Cavan Biggio was 1-for-3 as Toronto took Game 1 of their doubleheader in Boston 4-1. Patrick Murphy gave up a hit and a walk and pitched a scoreless frame, striking out two and stranding two runners in the Jays 4-1 loss in Game 2.
Rowdy Tellez singled and walked as Milwaukee pushed past Pittsburgh 7-3.
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