Citizen Spain: Garrett's Blast Walks It Off
VANCOUVER, BC – Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Garrett Spain comes to the plate with the Canadians down to their final out in the ninth and hits a game-winning home run to cap a comeback win. Sound familiar? It should. Exactly one week after his game-winning grand
VANCOUVER, BC – Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Garrett Spain comes to the plate with the Canadians down to their final out in the ninth and hits a game-winning home run to cap a comeback win.
Sound familiar? It should. Exactly one week after his game-winning grand slam at Funko Field in Everett, the Clarksville, TN native hit the third walk-off homer for Vancouver this year with a two-out, two-run blast in the last of the ninth Wednesday night at Rogers Field at Nat Bailey Stadium. Spain’s homer – his career-best and team-high seventh on the year – made the C’s 5-4 winners over the Hillsboro Hops [D-Backs] and secured sole possession of first place in the Northwest League with seven games remaining in the first half.
Trailing 4-3, Vancouver’s first two batters of the frame were retired before Alan Roden worked a crucial five-pitch walk to bring the former 15th rounder to the plate. After a called strike, Spain torched a center cut fastball from Hillsboro closer Zach Barnes (L, 2-2) over the right field wall to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat and send an RBC Wednesday crowd of 3,740 home happy.
The former Austin Peay State Governor’s clutch moment was set up by another homer to right; Hillsboro centerfielder Kevin Graham broke a 3-3 tie in the top of the eighth with a wall-scraper for his first career High-A bomb. That came after the C’s – who trailed 3-0 when the Hops scored three in the second – rallied for two runs in the fourth on an RBI double from Alex De Jesus plus a run-scoring single off the bat of Michael Turconi and tied the game with an RBI groundout by Dasan Brown in the sixth.
On the mound, Abdiel Mendoza was pressed into early action after starter Adam Macko didn’t have his usual command and was forced from the game after two complete innings with his pitch count at 51. Mendoza went on to blank the Hops for three strong stanzas then passed the torch to Conor Larkin, who set down the side in the sixth and stranded two one-out singles with consecutive strikeouts in the seventh. Matt Svanson (W, 3-1) needed all of nine pitches in a 1-2-3 top of the ninth to keep it a one-run deficit.
Seven of nine Canadians hitters reached base, six had a hit and Turconi, Josh Kasevich and Estiven Machado all finished with two hits apiece. De Jesus – Toronto’s #21 Blue Jays prospect – matched a personal best this season with a hit in his fourth consecutive game.
Spain’s output this year has been nothing short of remarkable. After beginning the season on the Development List, the 22-year-old is slashing .330/.364/.650 with a 1.014 OPS, 10 doubles, a triple, seven homers, 17 runs scored and 26 RBI in 30 games played. He’s even more impressive in the ninth inning, going 5-for-9 (.556) with seven RBI and a 2.000 OPS in nine at-bats in the final frame.
With the win and Spokane’s loss to Eugene earlier tonight, the Canadians are alone in first place and own the tiebreaker over the Indians. The first half ends on June 22 when the C’s are in Eugene.
Vancouver goes right back to work on Thursday night when they send Rafael Sanchez to the slope opposite #22 D-Backs prospect Dylan Ray. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. with coverage available on CanadiansBaseball.com, the MiLB First Pitch app, Bally Live and the Sportsnet Radio Network.