The Vancouver Canadians scored 10 runs for the second straight night but they were walked off 11-10 by the Spokane Indians at Avista Stadium Thursday.
Spokane pounced first on Canadians starter Adam Kloffenstein in their first turn at the plate. A three-run homer by Michael Toglia to center field scored a pair of one-out base hits from Daniel Montano and Colton Welker, the latter getting an infield single to third.
Kloffenstein was nicked for another run in the second. Hunter Stovall led off with a double but was caught on a 5-6 putout trying to advance to third on an A.J. Lewis ground ball. Just when it appeared Kloffenstein dodged a bullet, he balked Lewis over to second. Lewis made it to third on a Jack Blomgren groundout to third before Isaac Collins delivered Lewis home with a two-out RBI single.
The Canadians came roaring back in the third inning against Spokane starter Trent Fennell. It all started with a Davis Schneider single to left on an 0-2 pitch and a Zac Cook walk before Rafael Lantigua brought them home with a double to left. Tanner Morris traded places with Lantigua with his own double to left. Morris was singled over to third on an infield knock to third by Sebastian Espino before coming home on a Spencer Horwitz single to right to tie the game at 4-4. Philip Clarke gave the C’s their first lead with a one-out single to right to plate Espino. Fennell got Eric Rivera to hit into a 1-4 fielder’s choice before giving way to Jared Biddy. Rivera stole second base and would follow Horwitz home on a Schneider single to right to expand Vancouver’s lead to 7-4.
The Canadians scored again in the fifth when Will Robertson doubled to left with one away and scored on a Clarke base hit to make it an 8-4 ballgame.
Spokane matched that run with one of their own in the bottom half of the fifth. Collins led off with a single against Kloffenstein, stole second and advanced to third on a tapper to the mound from Montano. Welker’s RBI groundout to short scored Collins and ended the night for Kloffenstein.
Vancouver restored their four-run lead in the sixth when Lantigua worked Jake Sommers for a five-pitch walk before being wild-pitched over to second. Sebastian Espino then singled up the middle to bring in Lantigua.
Spokane again responded in their next at-bat against Sean Mellen. A Niko Decolati base hit, an Aaron Schunk walk and a Stovall bunt single loaded the bases with nobody out. Blomgren drew a one-out walk to score Decolati before Collins doubled home Schunk and Stovall to make it a one-run game.
The Canadians upped their lead to two runs in the eighth inning. Espino got to second when Collins butchered a fly ball in left field off Boby Johnson to start the frame. Robertson would score Espino with a single to right to give Vancouver its 10th run.
Again, Spokane answered right back and wound up tying the game in the second half of the eighth. Roither Hernandez issued a leadoff walk to Blomgren and surrendered a double to Collins to put runners at second and third. Blomgren and Collins would come in to score on a two-run single by Montano.
Another Blomgren walk in the ninth spelled the beginning of the end for the C’s in the bottom of the ninth. Blomgren’s one-out free pass from Willy Gaston was moved to second on an errant pickoff throw by Gaston before a Collins single advanced him to third. Montano then lifted a sacrifice fly to center to bring in Blomgren with the winning run.
C-Notes
The Canadians first hit came from Robertson with one out in the second. He moved up 90 feet on a Fennell wild pitch but was left stranded.
The fifth inning saw Rivera single with one out after Clarke’s RBI single to put two runners on but Sommers was called in from the bullpen to retire Schneider on a fly ball to center before striking out Cook.
The C’s had runners on first and second with nobody out in the seventh after Espino’s run-scoring knock but Sommers stranded two more runners by getting Horwitz and Robertson to fly out to left before whiffing Clarke.
Robertson drove in the C’s final run in the eighth with an RBI single but was picked off by Johnson to put a dent in that rally. Still, Robertson has seven hits over his last two games with a three-hit night that included a double. Espino, Rivera and Schneider were one hit shy of Robertson’s total with Rivera stealing his ninth base of the year and Schneider drawing a walk. Morris had an RBI single and took one for the team to reach base twice.
Kloffenstein yielded five runs and was one out short of a five-inning outing. He served up a home run among seven hits but did not walk anyone and struck out six. He threw 88 pitches, 58 for strikes. Six of his seven outs in play were on the ground.
Mellen was charged with three runs on three hits and two walks, striking out two over 1-1/3 innings.
Hernandez coughed up two runs on three hits and two walks and struck out two over 1-2/3 innings. He was charged with a blown save.
The loss went to Gaston. He stranded a runner for Hernandez but gave up an unearned run on two hits and two walks in his one inning of work.
Vancouver lost its 41st game of the year to put them seven games below .500 and nine games back of Eugene for the second and final playoff spot in the High-A West.
The Canadians square off against Spokane in the fourth game of their sixth game set at 6:30 pm on CanadiansBaseball.com. The C’s have not named a starter for this one but Spokane has as it is going with Helcris Olivarez.
C’s Alumni Report
Buffalo was blanked by Worcester 7-0 in Game 1 of their doubleheader Thursday.
- Nash Knight – 0/1, BB
- Travis Bergen – 1.0IP 1H 0R/ER 1BB 3K
The Bisons bounced back in Game 2 with an 8-1 win over the WooSox.
- Logan Warmoth – 1/4, R
- Vinny Capra – 0/2, HBP
- Dany Jiménez – 2.0IP 2H 0R/ER 2BB 4K
Cavan Biggio was 1-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored as Toronto destroyed Boston 13-1.
Miguel Castro threw a scoreless inning in the New York Mets 6-3 loss to Atlanta.
Rowdy Tellez homered, doubled and singled as Milwaukee whitewashed Pittsburgh 12-0.
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