SPOKANE, WA – Losers of four in a row entering tonight, the Canadians were an out away from a one-run win before the Spokane Indians (COL) tied the game in the ninth and won it in the tenth to hand Vancouver its fifth consecutive defeat in a 5-4 final at Avista Stadium.
After Victoria, BC native Sam Shaw clubbed a go-ahead solo shot with two outs in the eighth, the C’s led 4-3 to begin the bottom of the ninth. Jonathan Todd – who had faced one batter over the minimum across 3.1 scoreless innings of relief after getting the first out in the final frame of regulation – issued a one-out walk before a pinch runner came on and stole second to put the tying tally in scoring position. A sharp ground ball up the third base line nearly evened the score, but Tucker Toman laid out to make one of the best infield plays by a Canadian this season to keep the runner at second and put two away. The next batter, however, found the outfield grass with a game-tying single to force extra innings.
In the tenth, the C’s were gifted an error on a groundball off the bat of Maddox Latta, who promptly swiped second for his team-best ninth bag of the year. That put two men in scoring position with nobody out, but a strikeout, a 5-2 fielder’s choice that cut down the would-be go ahead run at the plate and a ground out ended the half inning with the score still tied at four.
Carson Myers (L, 0-1) entered the game for the bottom of the tenth. A sacrifice bunt moved the placed runner to third before a walk and defensive indifference allowed the Indians to get two runners into scoring position. A big strikeout followed, but a first pitch single from Jack O’Dowd in the next at-bat scored the game-winning run to make the C’s 5-4 losers in ten.
Spokane took a 2-0 lead in the first before Toman and Latta combined on consecutive one-out doubles in the second to make it 2-1. Peyton Williams and Eric Snow hit back-to-back jacks to begin the fourth to give the Canadians their first lead of the series.
#3 Blue Jays prospect Johnny King took the ball for his 13th start of the year and allowed three runs – two in the first and one in the fifth to tie the game at three – on five hits with one walk and seven Ks in five complete.
With the loss, the C’s have now dropped five or more games in a row for the third time this year. Their season-long losing streak is six, which they look to avoid tomorrow in the final game of the first half. Dylan Watts makes his High-A debut opposite #20 Rockies prospect Yuma Herrera. Coverage begins with the Canadians Pregame Show at 6:00 p.m. and continues with first pitch at 6:35 p.m. on Sportsnet 650.
For tickets and more information throughout the 75th anniversary season of The Nat, visit CanadiansBaseball.com, call 604-872-5232 and follow the C’s on social via @vancanadians.