The Vancouver Canadians walked off the Spokane Indians with a come-from-behind 4-3 victory in 11 innings at Nat Bailey Stadium.
Spokane started the game with base hits to right field by Braiden Ward and Benny Montgomery off C’s starter Rafael Sánchez. The first out came when Sterlin Thompson flew out to shallow right. Ward proceeded to steal third base and came home to score on a slow roller to short that resulted in an infield single by Jordan Beck. A fly ball to right by Zach Kokoska got Montgomery over to third but Sánchez struck out Juan Guerrero for the third out.
In the bottom of the first, Alan Roden led off with a base hit to center off Spokane starter Jarrod Cande. Roden was forced out on a 5-4 fielder’s choice by Dasan Brown. A bloop single to left by Michael Turconi followed but Brown would get picked off by Cande at second on a 1-4 play. Cade Doughty singled to left for the third hit of the frame before Gabby Martinez popped up too short to end the rally.
The top of the second saw Sánchez whiff Ben Sems swinging and A.J. Lewis looking. Bryant Quijada hit a grounder to short and Estiven Machado double-clutched before making a high throw but Devonte Brown was able to come down with the ball and make the tag on Quijada to finish the 1-2-3 frame.
After making an impact with the glove, Devonte Brown then made an impact with the bat as he tagged one to left field just behind the C’s bullpen cart for a home run to tie the game at 1-1. Brown’s fifth homer of the year to match his uniform number left the yard at 101 miles per hour and went 368 feet.
The top of the third saw Sánchez take care of business with a perfect frame and Cande did likewise in the bottom of the third.
Sánchez returned that volley with another 1-2-3 frame that featured a strikeout of Kokoska and Cande turned it back around with another three-up, three-down stanza.
The top of the fifth saw Sánchez whiff Sems before inducing a grounder to third by A.J. Lewis which Doughty deftly picked before unleashing a strong throw to first for the second out. Quijada singled to center and Ward walked but Sánchez struck out Montgomery to complete his five frames.
The candy shop remained closed to the C”s offence as Cande struck out two of the three men he faced to send the game to the sixth.
Conor Larkin relieved Sánchez for the top of inning six which began with a double to right-center by Thompson. Larkin snared a low line drive from Beck for the first out and tried to pick off Thompson at second but the low throw went to center field. Thompson did not go to third on the play. Kokoska struck out swinging even though the pitch hit him in the leg for the second out. Larkin then got out of the stanza by getting Guerrero to fly out to left.
The Cande man continued to terrorize the C’s with another clean frame with two more strikeouts in the bottom of the sixth. Larkin also put in a perfect stanza to send the game to the seventh-inning stretch.
After 15 batters were set down in a row, Vancouver finally got a runner on against Cande with a one-out single by center by Gabby Martinez. That was just two pitches after Martinez’s bid for a double down the left field line went just foul in the opinion of base umpire Shin Koishizawa. It appeared the ball landed right on the line but the call did not go Vancouver’s way. Cande struck out Garrett Spain for the second out and was pulled after throwing 104 pitches. Luis Amoros was brought into the game and gave up a Devonte Brown base knock to left but got Machado to ground out on a 3-1 play to leave the runners stranded.
Lefthander Ian Churchill retired the first two men he faced, striking out Montgomery for the second out. There was some concern that Churchill injured himself after he threw a pitch that sailed over the head of Thompson. Pitching coach Joel Bonnett and trainer Roelvis Vargas paid a visit to the mound but Churchill indicated he was okay to continue. He plunked Thompson in the back but got Beck to fly out to close out the frame.
Amoroso struck out two of the three batters he faced to take care of Vancouver in the bottom of the eighth.
Matt Svanson was the next hurler out of the C’s bullpen and he worked around a Sems two-out single to left by whiffing Lewis for his second strikeout to send the game to the bottom of the ninth.
Turconi tried to get something started by working the count full but he fouled out to left as Guerrero reached into the stands to make the catch. Doughty was hit by a pitch on his left hip with one out by Amoroso but was stranded when Spain lined out to Ward at second to send the game into overtime.
With Robby Martin Jr. pinch-running and place-running for Lewis in the top of the 10th, Svanson struck out Ward for the second out but Montgomery singled to right to score Martin who beat the throw home to put Spokane ahead 2-1.
The C’s would battle back in their 10th at-bat. A single to left by Devonte Brown off new Spokane reliever Juan Mejia and a base knock up the middle by Machado brought in Spain as the placed runner to tie the game at 2-2. Alex De Jesús pinch-hit for Jommer Hernández but struck out. The inning ended when Roden hit into a controversial 3-6-1 double play to end the frame. The C’s claimed Mejia was off the first base bag when he stretched to catch the throw from second. However, base umpire Koishizawa did not agree and the game would continue into the 11th inning.
Lefthander Braden Scott took over for Svanson and Kekai Rios had to don the catcher’s gear to replace Hernández. Scott hit Kokoska in the back with one out and threw a wild pitch that moved the placed runner Thompson and Kokoska up 90 feet. Guerrero’s sacrifice fly to right would score Thompson to give Spokane a 3-2 advantage.
Mejia came back for the bottom of the 11th and plunked Dasan Brown in the back. A Turconi base hit to left drove in the placed runner Roden to even the game again at 3-3. Then with runners on the corners, Doughty came through with a base hit up the middle to drive in Dasan Brown with the winning run. Scott was credited with the win for his first decision of the season.
C-Notes
Infielder Josh Kasevich has been placed on the seven-day injured list according to the transactions page on CanadiansBaseball.com. The former Oregon Duck pulled up lame when running to first base during last Sunday’s game in Eugene.
Vancouver has won five of seven to begin the second half and improve their overall record to 43-29.
Dahian Santos will get the honour of throwing the first pitch on Canada Day for the C’s. Game time is 1:05 p.m. on CanadiansBaseball.com and MiLB.TV.
Devereaux Harrison is slated to start the series finale on Sunday afternoon.
Radar Gun Rundown
Sanchez had Ks of 83, 85, 79, 79 82 and 83 miles per hour and was up to 94. Larkin was at 80-93 with a strikeout of 82. Svanson had strikeouts of 85, 95, 97 and 98 and Scott checked in at 74-91.
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