The Vancouver Canadians rallied for a 4-3 victory over the Spokane Indians in 10 innings at Nat Bailey Stadium on Wednesday.
It was another pitching duel as there were plenty of zeros on the linescore for most of the contest. Vancouver starter Kevin Miranda gave up a Sterlin Thompson single to right field on the first pitch of the game but erased it by getting Juan Guerrero to hit into a 6-3 double play. Jordan Beck singled to short but Zach Kokoska grounded to short for the third out.
The first extra-base hit of the game went to Spokane when Robby Martin Jr. doubled past a diving Devonte Brown at first base down the right field line. That two-out extra-base knock was stranded when Bryant Quijada grounded out to short.
Spokane starter Carson Palmquist had a perfect first inning before giving up a Garrett Spain that was flared to left out of the reach of a diving Nic Kent at short. Spain would get picked off on a 1-3-4-1 play and Palmquist got out of the frame without further incident.
The third inning was a contrast of pitching styles as Miranda retired Spokane with three consecutive groundouts while Palmquist took care of Vancouver by striking out the side.
Kokoska had a one-out hustle double to center in the fourth for Spokane and Ben Sems drew a two-out walk but Miranda got out of the inning when Martin grounded out to first.
The C’s were primed to break it open when Alan Roden hit a hot smash to second that Sems could not handle for a leadoff single. Dasan Brown was then hit in the left shoulder by a pitch and Alex De Jesús walked to load the bases with nobody out. Palmquist found his way out of that jam by striking out Cade Doughty after a nine-pitch at-bat and Garrett Spain before Kekai Rios bounced one back to the mound.
After Miranda and Palmquist turned in a perfect fifth inning that ended with Kokoska running down a Lyle Lin fly ball towards the left field line, Abdiel Mendoza entered the game for the C’s in the top of the sixth. He worked around a two-out single and stolen base by Kokoska by striking out Guerrero to open the frame before whiffing Kent to end it.
Spokane would break through for the game’s first run in the seventh against Mendoza. A one-out single to center by Martin was moved to third after Quijada executed a hit-and-run single to right. Doughty had vacated his second base position to cover the bag and that’s where Quijada bounced the ball to put runners on the corners. Cuba Bess struck out swinging but Martin stole home and Quijada got to second on a throwing error by Lin behind the plate. The inning ended on a 3-1 groundout by Thompson.
Cullen Kafka came into the game for Spokane in the bottom of the seventh and things were looking up when Doughty singled to left and Spain walked. Kafka wiggled his way out of that jam by getting Rios to hit into a 6-4 fielder’s choice before Devonte Brown smoked a ball off Kafka in the side that forced the righty to drop his glove. However, the ball deflected to Sems at second and he helped turn a 1-4-3 inning-ending double play, leaving Doughty at third.
Ryan Boyer was called in to work the top of the eighth for the C’s and struck out Guerrero before issuing a walk to Beck. Lin nailed Beck trying to steal second on a 2-6 putout before Boyer retired Koska on a pop-up to third to end that stanza.
Kafka was back out for the bottom of the eighth for Spokane but lost Roden on a 3-2 pitch for a two-out walk. Angel Chivilli got the third out by getting Dasan Brown on a fly ball to center.
A three-up, three-down top of the ninth was punctuated by a Boyer strikeout of Martin. Vancouver was able to rally in the bottom of the inning. De Jesús singled to left on an 0-2 pitch from Chivilli and moved up to second on a wild pitch between a pair of strikeouts by Doughty and Spain. Rios kept the game going when he laced the first pitch he saw from Chivilli to left field for a base hit to score De Jesús with the tying run. Rios got caught in a rundown and was thrown out on a 7-4 play as Kokoska bobbled the ball before recovering to make the throw back to second.
Martin was the placed runner for Spokane in the top of the 10th and he moved to third on a chopper off the plate by Quijada. C’s reliever Justin Kelly was able to field the ball and start a 1-3 putout. Spokane would take the lead when Bess flared a single to shallow left field past the drawn-in infield to score Martin. Pinch-runner Braiden Ward raced to third on a Thompson double down the left field corner. Ward would come home on a Guerrero sacrifice fly to right in foul territory to make it 3-1 Spokane. A 4-3 groundout by Beck would end the frame and strand Thompson at third.
With Rios as the placed runner, Chivilli came back out for the bottom of the 10th for Spokane but he ran into trouble right away when he plunked Devonte Brown on the back. Chivilli struck out Estiven Machado but consecutive walks to Lin and Roden brought in Rios with the C’s second run. Juan Mejia entered the game and yielded a game-tying sacrifice fly to Dasan Brown that scored Devonte Brown with a headfirst slide. The next pitch ended the game when De Jesús doubled to the warning track in left-center field to score Lin with the winning run. That made a winner of Kelly who improves to 4-1.
C-Notes
Vancouver’s comeback spoiled six dominant innings from Carson Palmquist who racked up 10 strikeouts against just two hits, a walk and a hit by pitch. The lefty—who was drafted by Colorado in the third round of the 2022 Draft out of Miami—is in good position to win the Northwest League Pitcher of the Week award.
The C’s offence has been handcuffed by lefties with the first name Carson this season at the Nat. Eugene’s Carson Whisenhunt pitched four shutout innings against Vancouver on April 30 and added five more goose eggs after throwing a one-hitter and striking out seven to get the win on May 31. The latter effort cemented the NWL Pitcher of the Month award for May for Whisenhunt and led to his call-up to Double-A Richmond.
The common thread in Palmquist’s and Whisenhunt’s first starts was the Canadians winning both games in 10 innings courtesy of Alex De Jesús who homered in the April game before winning Tuesday’s affair with a walkoff double.
The C’s are now 3-2 in the second half after securing their 41st win of the season. Both Vancouver and Spokane trail Everett by half-a-game for top spot as the AquaSox have won three of their first four games. Eugene is at 2-2 while Tri-City and Hillsboro are 1-3.
Ryan Boyer is now wearing number 21 which was vacated by the call-up of catcher Andrés Sosa to New Hampshire. Boyer had been wearing number 36.
Adam Macko will take the ball for Vancouver in the third game of this six-game set against Spokane. Game time at The Nat is 7:05 p.m. Tyler Zickel will have the broadcast on CanadiansBaseball.com and MiLB.TV.
Radar Gun Rundown
Miranda was clocked at 79-93 miles per hour. Mendoza was at 81 and registered strikeouts at 86, 88 and 95. Boyer was at 80 and had two whiffs at 95 and 94. Kelly was up to 95.
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