The Vancouver Canadians dropped an 8-6 decision to the Spokane Indians at Nat Bailey Stadium.
Vancouver starter Devereaux Harrison struck out Braiden Ward and Benny Montgomery to open the game before retiring Jordan Beck on a fly ball to center field.
In the bottom of the first, Spokane stater Victor Juarez gave up a double to the gap in left-center field to C’s leadoff man Dasan Brown. A 3-1 groundout with one out by Alex De Jesús got Brown over to third but Cade Doughty was called out on strikes.
Zach Kokoska collected Spokane’s first hit with a leadoff single to right that got by a diving Lyle Lin in the top of the second inning. Nic Kent flared a single to center and Juan Guerrero walked to load the bases. Harrison got a 6-3 double-play ball from Ben Sems, scoring Kokoska for the game’s first run. A.J. Lewis was retired on a strong throw from Michael Turconi in the hole at short to help Harrison limit the damage.
Garrett Spain singled to right just past a diving Ward at second base with one away in the bottom of the second. Estiven Machado got aboard on a walk but Lin grounded into a 6-4-3 inning-ending double play.
Spokane’s number nine hitter Bryant Quijada worked Harrison for a base on balls in the top of the third. Harrison struck out Ward and Montgomery for the second time and handled a comebacker to the mound from Beck to retire the side.
Brown collected his second hit of the game with a single that eluded a diving Sems at third. It looked like Brown was going to get his second double but had to retreat to time as Kokoska got to the ball quickly in left field. Brown then tried to steal second but was thrown out on a 2-4 play by Quijada. Turconi would strike out to end the frame.
Harrison was able to face the minimum in the top of the fourth. He walked Kent with one out but Jommer Hernández threw the ball right to the spot where Estiven Machado came over from second base to tag Kent out for the 2-4 caught stealing.
The Canadians would tie the game at 1-1 in their fourth at-bat. De Jesús reached base on a throwing error by Sems at third. A Doughty double would come all the way home on a double down the left field line, sliding feet first just ahead of Quijada‘s tag. Juarez got the next two hitters, striking out Spain but it was anything but a routine strikeout as Quijada made a high throw but Lewis managed to leap up and step on the bag in time for the second out. Machado hit a 3-1 grounder to strand Doughty at second.
The top of the fifth was a quick one for Harrison as Spokane went down in order with Lewis being a strikeout victim. Jaurez did likewise to the Canadians to keep the game tied at the end of five innings.
Ward got aboard for Spokane with a leadoff walk from Harrison in the top of the sixth. Machado booted a ball at second to allow Montgomery to make it to first. Beck went down swinging for the first out before an infield single by Kokoska loaded the bags. Kent produced a sacrifice fly to center to score Ward. Spokane broke it open when Guerrero launched a homer to the left field porch to make it a 5-1 game. Abdiel Mendoza took the ball from Harrison and induced a grounder to Sems at first and covered the bag for the inning-ending 3-1 putout.
A leadoff walk by Turconi and a one-out free pass to Doughty ended the day for Juarez after clearing the century mark in his pitch count. Cullen Kafka then loaded the bases on a Martinez single to right. Spain also singled to right to score Turconi and Doughty to pull the C’s to within two. Machado reached on an error when Lewis could not shove the ball cleanly out of his glove at first base. That allowed Martinez to score the C’s fourth run. Lin was hit by a pitch to fill the bases but Hernandez hit into an inning-ending 6-4-3 twin-killing.
Spokane would answer back when Quijada walked with one out and scored on a triple to right-center by Ward. Another triple by Montgomery was drilled off the wall to score Ward for Spokane’s seventh run. Beck blooped a single to the eight-spot to score Montgomery to make it 8-4 Spokane. Lefty Cooper Benson was called in from the C’s bullpen to relieve Mendoza. Beck stole second base and Kokoska walked but that was all Benson would allow.
De Jesús had a two-out single to right off Kafka in the bottom of the seventh. He made it to second when Guerrero overran the ball and was charged with the error but that was it for the Vancouver offence in that frame.
The top of the eighth began with Hernández catching up to a foul pop-up against the backstop to retire Sems. Benson then gave up three straight singles to Lewis (center), Quijada (left) and Ward, who got on with an infield knock to first as Lin could not shovel the ball over to first to Benson covering the bag. A double play ball of the 6-4-3 variety by Montgomery got the C’s out of the inning.
Vancouver rallied in the eighth against Kafka when Spain singled to center with one out and scored on a Machado triple to right-center. A Lin groundout to third brought in Machado home to give the C’s their sixth run. Devonte Brown pinch-hit for Hernandez and drew a walk to chase Kafka from the game. Angel Chivilli entered the game and struck out Dasan Brown on three pitches for the third out.
Ryan Boyer struck out Beck to start a 1-2-3 top of. the ninth. The C’s got the bottom of the ninth started with a Turconi double to left-center that just eluded a diving Beck. De Jesús was then hit by a 98-mile-per-hour fastball by Chivilli. A 3-1 roller by Doughty advanced the runners 90 feet but Martinez popped out to first and Spain struck out to end the game.
C-Notes
Vancouver dropped its 30th game of the year but is 14 games above .500 at 44-30 and is 6-3 in the second half.
The Canadians head to Hillsboro for a six-game series against the Hillsboro Hops. The game is available on CanadiansBaseball.com and MiLB.TV. The start time for Tuesday through Saturday is 7:05 p.m. with the Sunday series finale at 1:05 p.m. Michael Dominguez will get the throw the first pitch for the C’s on Tuesday. Adam Macko will pitch on Wednesday.
The C’s will return home on Friday, July 14 when the Eugene Emeralds will be at Nat Bailey Stadium for a three-game set. Friday’s and Saturday’s games are at 7:05 p.m. and Sunday’s game is at 1:05 p.m.
According to Sunday’s press notes from broadcaster Tyler Zickel, the Canadians finished the month of June on top of the Northwest League in team batting average at .275 and team earned run average at 2.43. The club won 18 of 26 games last month.
Radar Gun Rundown
Harrison was at 80-94 miles per hour and had strikeouts at 86, 85, 85, 84, 82 and 84. Mendoza was around 84-95, Benson was at 80-90 and Boyer had a punchout at 93 and was at 82-94.
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