Harrison, McCarty Lead C's To Win

SPOKANE, WA – Five scoreless innings from reigning Northwest League Pitcher of the Month Devereaux Harrison and a pair of crucial doubles from newcomer Ryan McCarty were influential factors in a 7-3 Canadians triumph over the Spokane Indians [Rockies] Thursday night at Avista Stadium.

Harrison’s (W, 4-2) hairiest inning was the first, when Spokane loaded the bases with one out. The righty struck out Nic Kent on three pitches then got an inning-ending flyout to keep it scoreless.

McCarty’s first of two doubles came with two outs in the second after #9 Rockies prospect Jaden Hill (L, 0-7) retired the first five batters of the game. Lyle Lin worked a walk to put two on for Kekai Rios, who tagged a deep drive to left center that looked like it hit off the very top of the wall and bounced back into play for a double but was ruled a three-run homer by the base umpire to give the C’s a 3-0 lead.

The scored stayed that way thanks in part to Harrison’s next four innings, which featured three singles, a walk and two strikeouts to make him the pitcher of record after five complete. A run for the Indians in the sixth spoiled the shutout, but a four-run eighth for Vancouver put the game away.

That frame began with a Gabby Martinez double and Devonte Brown followed with a single. Up stepped McCarty, who laced an 0-1 pitch into left field to score what proved to be the eventual game-winning run. A wild pitch plated another run then back-to-back outs came next, but a crucial error by first baseman Ben Sems allowed McCarty to score and prolonged the inning. Base hits from Dasan Brown and Garrett Spain – the latter of which drove in the fourth run of the stanza – made it 7-1 Canadians.

Spokane got two runs in their half of the eighth, but Anders Tolhurst limited the damage in the inning then set down the side in order in the ninth to lock down the victory.

All nine starters had a hit for the second time in three games this week. McCarty and Spain paced the offense with two hits each while Devonte, Lin and Michael Turconi all reached base twice. McCarty is now 6-for-13 with four doubles, four runs scored and two RBI in his first three games with the Canadians.

With the win, the C’s are a league best 15-6 in the second half and 53-33 overall. They’ll look to secure a series split Friday night at 7:05 p.m. when they send right-hander Kevin Miranda to the slope opposite Spokane’s Connor Van Scoyoc. Coverage is available on CanadiansBaseball.com, the MiLB First Pitch app and the Sportsnet Radio Network.