The Vancouver Canadians thumped the Spokane Indians 11-2 at Nat Bailey Stadium on Canada Day Saturday.
Spokane did score first in this one. Braiden Ward hit a comebacker to the mound that handcuffed C’s starter Dahian Santos. The hurried throw from the righthanded hurler got away from Michael Turconi at first. Even though Ward slipped, he still managed to make it to second base on the throwing error. A fly ball to right by Benny Montgomery got Ward to third for the first out. Sterlin Thompson lined out to first but Turconi’s throw to double off Ward at third went horribly awry and Ward came home for the game’s first run.
The C’s would respond in the bottom of the first. Turconi drew a one-out walk and advanced to third on an Alex De Jesus double to the left field corner. A wild pitch from Spokane starter Jaden Hill allowed Turconi to score the C’s first run. De Jesus would come home from third on a Gabby Martinez infield single to short that he just barely beat out to put Vancouver up 2-1.
The second inning started with Santos striking out Zach Kokoska. After a one-out single to center by Nic Kent, Santos proceeded to strike out the side by getting Juan Guerrero and Robby Martin Jr. looking.
The bottom of the second opened with a walk by Devonte Brown. He stole second base with one out and came home when Alan Roden smoked a double to the right-center field gap with two out to put Vancouver ahead 3-1.
Spokane started the top of the third with a single to center by A.J. Lewis but was forced out at second on a one-out fielder’s choice by Montgomery. Thompson was hit by a pitch in the right thigh to get Montgomery to second before Santos struck out Beck to strand the runners.
Hill plunked Cade Doughty with a pitch in the bottom of the third and walked Martinez to put the first two men on. Brown was also hit by a pitch above the left elbow to load the bases with one out. Estiven Machado salvaged the rally with a two-out, two-run single to right to drive in Doughty and Martinez who had to dance around the tag of Lewis and dive back to the plate to score the fifth Canadians run. Tyler Ahearn relieved Hill on the hill to finish the frame.
Machado would contribute to the C’s cause with his glove at short in the top of the fourth with a nice diving catch by chasing one down in shallow center to rob Kokoska of a hit. Machado then showed off his strong throwing arm to get his Spokane counterpart Kent on a 6-3 play before Santos struck out Guerrero to cap a 1-2-3 fourth.
Turconi drew another walk to start the home half of the fourth.and went to second on an Ahearn wild pitch. Doughty heard ball four to get aboard with one out but was forced out on a 6-4-3 inning-ending double play by Martinez.
In the bottom of the fifth, Spoknae tried to get something going with a Lews single to left with one out. Ward reached first on a 6-4 fielder’s choice and got to second on a Montgomery two-out single to right but Santos stranded the runners when Thompson flew out to right.
After lefty Colten Schmidt shut down the C’s with a perfect bottom of the fifth for Spokane, southpaw Naswell Paulino relieved Santos in the top half of the sixth. He surrendered a leadoff double to left-center just out of the reach of a running Martinez from left. Kokoska followed with a walk before Machado made his presence felt again with the leather by jumping up to snare a rocket off the bat of Kent for the first out. Guerrero flew out to left and Martin popped out to Machado at short to get Paulino out of danger.
The Canadians got their first hit against Schmidt when Roden punched a single to left with one out in the bottom of the sixth. Roden stole second base before Turconi walked. With two away, Doughty stepped up and cleared the short fence in left field for a three-run home run to boost the Vancouver lead to 8-1.
More outstanding glove work from Machado came in the top of the seventh when he slid feet-first to snare a grounder from Lewis and spun around to throw out the Spokane catcher for the first out. Ward would walk with one out and go to third on a base hit to right by Thompson. A base hit to right by Beck scored Ward for Spokane’s second run. Paulino hit Kokoska in the back of the batting helmet to load the bases. Kokoska was okay to take his base but he and his teammates were stranded when Paulino bounced off the mound to handle a comebacker and he ran all the way to the first base bag to take care of Kent for the third out.
In the bottom of the seventh, Brown ripped a one-out base hit to left and stole second base on a Kekai Rios strikeout. Machado extended the frame with a walk and Roden lined a single to center to drive in Brown with run number nine for the C’s.
Justin Kelly worked the top of the eighth for Vancouver and served up a single to right by Guerrero and a base knock to center by Martin. Machado made his presence known again at the six-spot by starting a 6-4-3 double play with a nifty flip to second. Ward was hit by a pitch just above the belt to put men on the corners but Kelly ended the Spokane rally by getting Montgomery to ground out to third.
Vancouver continued to pile on in the bottom of the eighth against lefty Evan Shawver. A leadoff walk by De Jesús came home when Doughty deposited another ball into the C’s left field bullpen for a two-run homer to put the Canadians up by nine.
Sam Ryan gave up a one-out infield knock to short by Beck in the top of the ninth before striking out Kokoska and getting Kent to fly out to left to seal the deal for Vancouver. Santos got the win to even his record at 3-3.
C-Notes
Saturday’s win was the first time since 2016 that the Vancouver Canadians emerged victorious on Canada Day, also against Spokane on a Friday evening seven years ago. Burlington, Ontario’s Mattingly Romanin belted a grand slam to help the C’s cause in that game. Wins have been rare for Monty’s Mounties on Canada Day as they sported a record of 5-12 on July 1 since the 2005 season heading into Saturday’s contest.
Oakville, Ontario native Dasan Brown had the day off on Saturday but his mother Patricia Bell was on hand for the ceremonial first pitches with her son catching.
Vancouver is now 15 games above the .500 mark with a record of 44-29 and are now 6-2 in the second half.
Devereaux Harrison will be on the hill for the series finale on Sunday. The game begins at 1:05 p.m. on CanadiansBaseball.com and MiLB.TV.
Radar Gun Rundown
Santos had strikeouts of 81, 81, 81 and 82 miles per hour and was in the 80-95 range. Paulino was around 79-92, Kelly checked in at 83-94 and Ryan had a strikeout at 93 and was around 84-96.
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