The Vancouver Canadians fell 3-1 to the Spokane Indians at Avista Stadium on Saturday.
The C’s actually grabbed their first lead of the season when Jace Bohrofen singled to right with two outs in the top of the sixth. He made it all the way to third on a wayward pickoff throw by Spokane starter Sean Sullivan. Nick Goodwin then kept one fair down the left field line for a double to score Bohrofen.
Spokane would surge ahead in the seventh inning against Vancouver lefthander Kendry Rojas. An infield single to short by Robby Martin Jr. started the trouble and a two-out bunt to third moved Martin into scoring position. C’s third baseman Ryan McCarty could not make a clean grab on a Jesus Bugarin smash to third and Martin ran all the way home with the tying run. A Trevor Boone single to center field and a Braiden Ward hit by pitch loaded the bases. Conor Larkin took over for Rojas and uncorked a wild pitch that allowed Burgain to score the go-ahead run. Back-to-back walks by Cole Carrigg and Dyan Jorge plated Boone with the insurance run.
C-Notes
Rafael Sánchez delivered his best start in a Vancouver Canadians uniform with six shutout innings. He retired the first six men he faced and stranded a Bugarin base hit to start the third. The 24-year-old Cuban overcame a bad pickoff throw by knocking down a hot smash by Ward for the second out and getting Boone to ground out to third to strand Bugarin at third.
Sánchez’s gave up base knocks to Jorge and Martin in the fourth but a 5-4-3 double play by Kyle Karros and Jommer Hernández throwing out Martin trying to steal second snuffed out that threat.
In the bottom of the fifth, Bryan Betancourt drew a leadoff walk and stole second with two outs but Sánchez got Boone to strike out on a foul tip.
Sánchez completed his sixth inning of work when Goodwin made a leaping grab on a Karros liner to strand a two-out single to left by Jorge.
As good as Sánchez was, Sullivan was utterly dominant as the Spokane southpaw struck out 13 batters of the 23 he faced. He stranded a pair of left field singles by Brennan Orf and Hernández in the third and stranded a leadoff double to left by Bohrofen in the fourth.
Despite all of that, the C’s appeared to be in good shape when they loaded the bases against lefty Carson Skipper. A bunt single to the mound by Jeff Wehler, a single to center by Orf and a walk to Jaden Rudd loaded the bases with nobody out. Skipper then took charge by retiring the next three hitters without giving up any solid contact.
The only time I can ever recall the C’s not coming through with the bases loaded and nobody out and still winning the game came back in Game 1 of the 2012 Northwest League final when they came from behind to knock off the Boise Hawks at Nat Bailey Stadium.
The C’s offensive frustrations continued in the eighth. Bohrofen and Goodwin drew back-to-back walks to start the top of the eighth but a Dylan Rock 5-4 double play effectively neutered that rally.
Canadiansn righthander Justin Kelly was greeted by a Martin leadoff single to left in the bottom of the eighth but that was it as he proceeded to strike out the side by getting Betancourt looking and Guerrero and Bugarin swinging.
Zach Agnos also K’d the side and picked up his second save in as many nights with Skipper collecting the W.
Vancouver hitters have struck out a whopping 28 times in the first two games in this series against six walks. They have gone a combined 1-for-17 with 14 runners left on base.
The first transactions of the season involving the C’s have been made. Righthander Leam Mendez has been placed on the seven-day injured list as of April 5. Mendez joined the C’s late last season and pitched in Game 1 in the Northwest League final against Everett. The 24-year-old from Cuba was in the New York Yankees organization before joining the Blue Jays system as a free agent back on May 29.
Receiving the promotion from Low-A Dunedin are righthander Lazardo Estrada, second baseman Adrian Pinto and outfielder Roque Salinas. Estrada did pitch for Vancouver but not in Vancouver as he was with the team during the season in exile of 2021 when the club had to play its “home games” in Hillsboro. The 5-foot-10, 180-pound Cuban hurler logged four shutout innings and struck out five over two appearances with Monty’s Mounties, allowing just one hit and one walk. The 24-year-old struck out 103 batters and walked 26 over 76-1/3 innings with Dunedin. He added four saves and won two games with a 2.83 earned run average.
Pinto was acquired by the Toronto Blue Jays along with outfielder Raimel Tapia in the deal that saw Randal Grichuk go to the Colorado Rockies just before the start of the 2022 season. The righthanded hitter was signed as a free agent by the Rockies on July 2, 2019, but the pandemic delayed his pro debut in 2021. Pinto spent that year with the Dominican Summer League Rockies, putting up an eye-opening 1.023 on-base-plus-slugging percentage and stealing 41 bases in 54 games. His OPS during his two years in the Jays system has been below .750 but the 21-year-old has shown a solid batting eye with OBP marks of .375 and .413 with the Dunedin Blue Jays in 2022 and 2023 respectively. Unfortunately, the 5-foot-6, 161-pound Venezuelan has had trouble staying healthy with a pair of stints on the injured list, limiting him to 82 games over the last two years, six of them last year at the Florida Complex League.
Salinas joined the Blue Jays organization as a free agent on January 16, 2022 after playing for the Mariachis de Guadalajara in the Mexican League. A native of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas in Mexico, Salinas has spent his first two years with the Dunedin Blue Jays. The 5-foot-8 left-handed hitting 21-year-old has a career .267 batting average with 38 extra-base hits and 92 runs batted in over 178 games.
2023 C’s second baseman Cade Doughty was to begin the year at Double-A New Hampshire but has been sent to Dunedin on a rehab assignment. The former Louisiana State Tiger did not see any Grapefruit League action with the big club this spring.
Other former C’s in the transactions column are righthander T.J. Brock and infielder Riley Tirotta on the seven-day injured list at Double-A New Hampshire. Righthanders Juan Nuñez, Nick Fraze and Fitz Stadler have been assigned to the Development List.
The series finale between Vancouver and Spokane is set for 1:35 p.m. on Sunday at Avista Stadium. Pat Gallagher will get the start for the C’s. Tyler Zickel will call the action on CanadiansBaseball.com. The game will also be on MiLB.TV as Spokane got its feed squared away Saturday after Friday’s opener was nowhere to be found.
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