The Vancouver Canadians dropped their second straight game to the Spokane Indians 7-3 at Avista Stadium on Thursday.
Rainer Nuñez had Vancouver’s first hit of the night with a two-out single to right field in the first inning against Spokane starter Jarrod Cande. A two-out double to right in the third by Alan Roden was also stranded.
Vancouver starter Trenton Wallace struck out Ben Montgomery looking and Casey Beck swinging to end the first inning and whiffed Juan Guerrero to end the second. Wallace struck out Ben Sems to start the third before Nic Kent homered to right field to put Spokane on the board first. Adael Amador got to second on an infield single to third and a throwing error by Alex De Jesus. He stole third base but Wallace got Montgomery looking at strike three.
The C’s tied the game in the top of the fourth when a pair of one-out base hits to center by Michael Turconi and Gabby Martinez put runners on the corners. That set up a Devonte Brown sacrifice fly to right to score Turconi.
After Wallace retired the side in order in the bottom of the fourth, Dasan Brown opened the fifth with a single to center but he was picked off by Cande to snuff out that rally.
Wallace struck out Guerrero to begin the bottom of the fifth but Sems and Kent walked, with Sems stealing second base, and A.J. Lewis singled to center to load the bases. Amador struck out on three pitches but Montgomery singled on a 1-2 pitch to center to score Sems and Kent to put Spokane up 3-1. Beck struck out to end the frame.
Andrés Sosa drew a leadoff walk in the sixth against Cande but a Nuñez 6-3 double play helped the Spokane hurler get out of the inning.
Conor Larkin took over for Wallace in the sixth and had a runner at second base to deal with off the hop when a Yanquiel Fernandez single to center was mishandled by Dasan Brown. Guerrero worked a one-out walk before Sems singled to left to cash in Fernandez. Lewis kept the inning going with a two-out walk and T.J. Brock was called in to replace Larkin. Brock gave up a bases-clearing double to center by Amador on a 1-2 pitch to make it 7-1 Spokane. The inning ended with Montgomery looking at strike three.
Both teams retired the side in order in the seventh with Cande wrapping up a seven-inning start and Brock getting Beck looking at strike three.
Roden was the lone baserunner of the eighth when he drew a two-out walk against Spokane reliever Juan Mejia. Justin Kelly worked a perfect bottom half of the frame with a trio of fly ball outs.
A Nuñez single to left opened the top of the ninth against Tyler Ahearn. After Cade Doughty—who replaced Turconi at second base in the seventh inning—struck out, a Martinez walk and a Devonte Brown base hit to center loaded the bases. De Jesus then heard ball four to bring in Nuñez with the C’s second run. Angel Chivilli took the ball from Ahearn and gave up a Dasan Brown base hit up the middle to score Devonte Brown. That brought the potential tying run to the plate but Estiven Machado struck out and Roden flew out to right to end the game.
C-Notes
Infielder Riley Tirotta has been promoted to Double-A New Hampshire. The 24-year-old South Bend, Indiana native slashed .303/.411/,539 with 13 extra-base hits, 16 runs batted in and five stolen bases in 27 games this season after getting into 69 contests for the club in 2022.
2019, 2021 and 2022 C’s infielder Trevor Schwecke has been promoted from New Hampshire to Triple-A Buffalo. The 25-year-old from Marshfield, Wisconsin put together a batting line of .256/.368/.419 with three homers, 17 RBI and five steals for the Fisher Cats in 2023.
Rafael Sanchez makes his second High-A start for the Canadians in Spokane. The game is on CanadiansBaseball.com beginning at 6:35 p.m.
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