Late Inning Heroics Highlight Walk-Off Win

VANCOUVER, BC – A classic pitcher’s duel turned into an extra innings thriller for the Canadians Wednesday night in a 4-3 walk-off win over the Spokane Indians [Rockies] at Rogers Field at Nat Bailey Stadium.

Trailing 1-0 to start the ninth, the C’s put the tying run on base when Alex De Jesus singled on an 0-2 pitch from Spokane closer Angel Chivilli (BS, 5/L, 2-5). The hard-throwing right-hander struck out the next man before throwing a wild pitch that moved De Jesus to second but K’ed the third hitter of the inning to bring newcomer Kekai Rios to the plate. The Hawaiian-born catcher jumped on the first pitch and laced a game-tying single into left field for his first career Canadians knock that sent the game to extras.

Spokane punched right back in the top of the tenth. After a groundout moved the placed runner to third and brought the infield in, a duck snort of a single from number nine man Cuba Bess just evaded the left side of the defense to put the Indians in front 2-1. A Sterlin Thompson double in the next at-bat moved two runners into scoring position and Juan Guerrero’s sacrifice fly plated the second run of the stanza to make it 3-1.

Chivilli returned to the mound in the tenth and hit Devonte Brown with the first pitch to put the tying runs aboard. After a strikeout, Lyle Lin walked to load the bases then Alan Roden worked a free pass to force home the second C’s run of the game. With the tying run at third, Spokane brought in Juan Mejia (BS, 2) to face Dasan Brown. The #15 Blue Jays prospect worked the count full then plated Devonte with a sacrifice fly to even the score at three runs apiece. Up stepped De Jesus, who smacked the first pitch over the head of the centerfielder for a walk-off double to complete the comeback and hand Vancouver a 4-3 win.

The Canadians offense was baffled by #19 Rockies prospect Carson Palmquist, who was masterful over six scoreless innings that featured a career-high 10 strikeouts. His only high-intensity inning was the fourth when the C’s loaded the bases with no outs, but the southpaw retired the next three hitters to leave them loaded and keep the game scoreless.

C’s starter Kevin Miranda was just as good for five shutout stanzas in his third career start in which he scattered four hits and a walk to get a no-decision. Spokane manufactured a run in the seventh on two singles and a steal of home to take a 1-0 lead against Abdiel Mendoza – who struck out three over two innings of relief – before Ryan Boyer put up a pair of zeroes in the eighth and ninth to keep Vancouver within a run.

De Jesus was the only Canadians batter with multiple hits in the game and provided the lone extra base hit of the night to win it. Roden reached thrice and Garrett Spain was aboard two times.

With the win, Vancouver is now a league-best 41-29 overall and 3-2 in the second half. They return to action on Thursday for a 7:05 p.m. start as #9 Blue Jays prospect Adam Macko climbs the hill opposite Spokane’s Blake Adams. Coverage is available on CanadiansBaseball.com, Bally Live, the MiLB First Pitch app and the Sportsnet Radio Network.