The Spokane Indians got past the Vancouver Canadians 4-3 in 10 innings at Nat Bailey Stadium on Friday.
Spokane scored first in the top of the first inning against C’s starter Kendry Rojas. Dyan Jorge singled to right with one out, stole second base and scored when Kyle Karros doubled to the left field fence.
Vancouver put up a pair of runs without the benefit of a hit in the bottom of the second against Indians starter Blake Adams. A pair of walks by Jackson Hornung and Brennan Orf and a one-out free pass to Je’Von Ward loaded the bases. Jeff Wehler also heard ball four and that brought Hornung home. Estiven Machado hit into a 4-6 fielder’s choice to score Orf with the C’s second run.
Spokane would even things up in the top of the fourth against Rojas. Jack Blomgren led off with a base hit to right and stole second base. However, Blomgren appeared to hurt his ankle and he was replaced by Jean Perez. A double off the right field wall by José Cordova would bring Perez home with the tying run.
The game went into the 10th inning and the bases were loaded after Johnathan Lavallee plunked the son of former Blue Jay Glenallen Hill, G.J. Hill in the stomach when he was looking to bunt. A walk to E.J. Andrews Jr. loaded the bases and the placed runner Cordova scored on a Cole Carrigg base hit to right past a diving Wehler at second. Jorge hit into an unconventional 6-4-3 when Machado rolled the ball to second base like a bowler. It got the job done but Hill would score the second Spokane run on the play.
The Canadians put together a rally in the top of the 10th. Jace Bohrofen walked with one and Jackson Hornung and Brennan Orf followed with consecutive two-out walks to bring home Machado as the placed runner. With the bases still loadedand pinch-runner Marcos De La Rosa at third, Spokane reliever Brayan Castillo escaped by getting Nick Goodwin to fly out to left field.
C-Notes
A baserunning gaffe by proved costly as it took a run off the board for the C’s in the bottom of the sixth. Orf and Goodwin had back-to-back base hits to right field with one out in the sixth against Spokane reliever Mason Green. Ward lifted a sacrifice fly to left that would have scored Orf but Goodwin appeared to forget how many outs that were as he wandered off first base. That resulted in a 7-5-3 inning-ending double play.
A Ward two-out walk in the fourth and a Bohrofen two-out double in the fifth were stranded by Green.
The C’s had two men on in the seventh against Green when Machado’s one-out walk was followed by a Dasan Brown base hit to center.
Wehler had a base hit to center with two outs in the ninth but that was all they could manage against Welinton Herrera in his two innings of work.
Spokane had a chance to pad their lead in the bottom of the second against Rojas. Singles to right by Blomgren and Cordova opened the frame before Rojas got the next two outs, including a strikeout of Andrews. Carrigg extended the inning with an infield single to first as Rojas could not cover the first base bag in time. The inning ended when Jorge lined out to center.
Other than a 1-2-3 third inning that ended in five pitches, it was a grind for Rojas as he needed 78 pitches to complete four stanzas. The fourth ended when he fanned Hill and Andrews and Cordova was thrown out by Hornung trying to steal third.
Alex Amalfi stranded a two-out single to left by Karros with a strikeout of Guerrero looking in the fifth. The former UMass-Boston Beacon had a perfect sixth inning by whiffing Betancourt and Perez.
Grayson Thurman started the seventh with a strikeout of Hill as part of a 1-2-3 frame. In the eighth, Thurman only faced three batters when Hornung threw out a Karros one-out single to left on a 2-4 caught stealing and Guerrero struck out looking.
Lavallee struck out the side in the ninth by getting Betancourt looking and Perez and Cordova swinging.
Despite a 9-0 start to the second half, the C’s are now one game back of Spokane for first place as they fall to 16-6. Rafael Sánchez will get on the slope on Saturday for Vancouver for a 7:05 p.m. start as they seek just their second win at Avista Stadium North Nat Bailey Stadium this season. Tyler Zickel will have the play-by-play on CanadiansBaseball.com and MiLB.TV.
2022 Vancouver Canadians catcher Zach Britton has retired according to the Blue Jays transactions page. The 25-year-old—who was Toronto’s fifth-round pick in 2020 out of Louisville—batted .205 in 55 games with Double-A New Hampshire this season. He hit 10 doubles, 4 homers and drove in 28 runs. He stole five bases, with the last one coming in his final game with the Fisher Cats on July 14. All the best to Zach in his future endeavours. A tip of the cap to Ryley Delaney of BlueJaysNation.com for pointing this out on Twitter.
C-Changes
Infielder Brennan Orf was activated off the 60-day injured list just before Friday’s series opener in Spokane. His last game with the C’s was back on May 12 against Everett. The former Southern Illinois Univeristy-Edwardsville Cougar had been rehabbing with the Florida Complex League and Dunedin Blue Jays since July 1.
Orf has reclaimed his number 15 from earlier this season after it was worn by Jamari Baylor who is currently on the injured list.
Radar Gun Rundown
Kendry Rojas had strikeouts of 87, 94 and 87 miles per hour. Alex Amalfi was at 85 with strikeouts of 94, 94 and 93. Grayson Thurman had a strikeout at 82 and was up to 92. Johnathan Lavallee had Ks of 84, 97, 88 and 95 and was up to 99.
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