The Vancouver Canadians trounced the Spokane Indians 12-5 at Nat Bailey Stadium on Thursday.
Braiden Ward began the game with a single to left field on a 1-2 pitch from Vancouver starter Adam Macko. Benny Montgomery struck out but that was followed by Ward stealing second and third base. On the steal of third, the throw by C’s catcher Kekai Rios did not go very far because his throwing hand collided with the bat of Jordan Beck. Rios remained in the game but a Beck walk and a Zach Kokoska 6-4 fielder’s choice scored Ward to put Spokane ahead 1-0.
The C’s responded in the bottom of the first when Alan Roden worked a leadoff walk against Spokane starter Blake Adams. Dasan Brown chopped a ball to Nic Kent at short but his throw to Ward at second to try to force out Roden pulled him off the bag, resulting in an error. Michael Turconi walked to load the bases and Alex De Jesús lifted a sacrifice fly to left field to bring home Roden to tie the game at 1-1. Garrett Spain got a base on balls to reload the bases and Gabby Martinez proceeded to clear them by lacing a double to right-center, scoring Brown, Turconi and Spain to make it 4-1 Vancouver.
Spokane managed to load the bases with two outs in the second inning when Robby Martin Jr. beat out an infield single to first That was followed by a walk to A.J. Lewis walk and a hit by pitch to Ward who was plunked in the elbow. Macko left the pillows filled when he struck out Montgomery.
After Adams had a 1-2-3 second inning, Spokane got a leadoff single to right from Beck to start the top of the third. Martinez did a good job to cut the ball off in the gap to keep Beck at first. Kokoska bunted Beck to second on a 1-3 play and Juan Guerrero flew out to center to advance Beck to third but that was where Beck would stay as Ben Sems grounded out to second.
Turconi rippled a single to left to begin the Vancouver third but that was the only hit of the frame.
In the top of the fourth, Macko retired the first two hitters but Lewis singled to right on an 0-2 pitch and Ward pushed a bunt past Lyle Lin up the first base line to get aboard. Montgomery punched a single to left to score Lewis and advance Ward to third. Macko tried to pick off Montgomery at first before a 3-2 pitch to Beck but Ward wound up stealing home, beating the throw from Lin at first. Beck would line a ball off Macko’s foot and be credited with a base hit. Beck swiped second but Kokoska flew out to center for the third out.
The Canadians answered back with a two-out rally of their own in their half of the fourth. Singles by Lin to left and Roden to right set up Brown and he jacked one over the left field fence over the C’s bullpen to give Vancouver a 7-3 advantage.
Cooper Benson was the first reliever of the night for the C’s. He walked Guerrero to start the top of the fifth but sat down the next three hitters, culminating with a strikeout of Martin.
Lefty Mason Green entered the game for Spokane in the bottom of inning five. He handed out a bruise to De Jesús on his second pitch of the game as he hit the C’s third baseman in the left thigh. Spain followed with a walk and they moved up on a wild pitch. Green hit Machado on the hand for a second HBP with two outs and walked Lin to bring in De Jesús for the eighth Canadians run. An infield single by Roden that Kent could only knock down at short allowed Spain to cross the plate for run number nine.
A one-out single to right by Ward was all Benson gave up in the sixth as he struck out Montgomery on the way to getting the next three hitters in a row.
Bryan Castillo was next up out of the Spokane arm barn in the bottom of inning six and he sliced his way through the order to send the game to the seventh.
Eric Pardinho came in to pitch the seventh for the C’s and whiffed Kokoska to begin his outing. Pardinho should have had a second straight strikeout when Guerrero did not hold up on a check swing. Guerrero would ground out too short for the second out. However, the checked swing not called by home plate umpire Shin Koishizawa and upheld by base umpire Cas Cousins did produce an ejection of C’s pitching coach Joel Bonnett as Koishizawa gave out the heave-ho. Sems then singled to right and Kent did likewise to left but Pardinho punched out Martin to strand the runners.
The C’s got their first two men on in the seventh when Martinez made it to first on an infield knock down the third base line and Rios blooped a single to right with Martinez making it to second just in time. A wild pitch and a one-out balk by Castillo allowed Martinez to make it to the pentagon for the C’s 10th run.
Lewis doubled to the short left-field fence to open the eighth against Pardinho, just beating Roden’s throw at second. Ward hit a chopper to second that Turconi had to put in his pocket and that put runners at first and third. Ward pilfered second before Pardinho struck out Montgomery but Pardinho could not snare a Beck line drive up the middle and that scored Lewis and Ward to cut the C’s lead to 10-5.
Castillo walked Turconi to begin the bottom of the eighth thanks to a pitch count violation on ball three but De Jesús hit into a 6-4-3 double play. Spain kept the inning alive with a double to right over the head of Martin and Martinez brought him in by mashing a home run to left to put the C’s up by seven. Rios singled to right, Machado was hit in the right elbow by a pitch and Lin walked to load the bases. Anderson Bido took over for Castillo and fell behind Roden at 3-0 before getting the C’s leadoff hitter to foul out to third two pitches later.
Sam Ryan came in for the ninth for Vancouver and walked Sems on four straight pitches but battled back from a 3-0 count to get Kent to pop up to the mound. Brown showcased his speed in center field by running down a fly ball that was struck solidly by Martin. Ryan then struck out Lewis to end the game and help Benson run his record to 6-0.
C-Notes
Vancouver Canadians clubhouse manager Jesse Mendez was honoured after Thursday’s game for winning the 2022 Northwest League Clubhouse Manager of the Year award. He was presented with a commemorative bat by C’s skipper Brent Lavallee.
In an administrative move after Wednesday’s game, reliever Ryan Boyer was “promoted” to Double-A New Hampshire after ending his rehab stint with the C’s. The righthander was then assigned back to the Vancouver roster.
Vancouver bumps its second half record to 4-2 and now have 42 total wins on the season against 29 losses. The C’s are a half-game back of Everett for top spot in the second half.
The afternoon portion of this series begins Friday afternoon. Rafael Sánchez is slated to start for the Canadians in a 1:05 p.m. first pitch on CanadiansBaseball.com and MiLB.TV.
Radar Gun Rundown
Macko checked in at 75 miles per hour and had strikeouts of 82 and 96. Benson was in the 78-91 range with whiffs of 79 and 90. Pardinho had punchouts of 85, 86 and 82 and was around 80-96. Ryan was around 81-94 with a strikeout of 85.
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