VANCOUVER, BC – The Canadians were plagued by walks and a lack of clutch hits in their 5-4 loss to the Tri-City Dust Devils [LAA] Wednesday night at The Nat.

20 Blue Jays prospect Juaron Watts-Brown (L, 0-3) made his first start on Canadian soil and retired the first six batters of his outing to protect the run the C’s scored in the first on back-to-back doubles from Jackson Hornung and Peyton Williams.

But a lead-off free pass in the third proved to be a harbinger of things to come in the inning. Tri-City would walk a total of four times in the frame – including twice with the bases loaded – and use a two-RBI single from Juan Flores to lead 4-1 after two and a half.

Vancouver punched back with a run of their own in the bottom of the frame when Williams worked a two-out walk, Jace Bohrofen was hit by a pitch and Nick Goodwin laced an RBI single into right field to cut the deficit to two.

Arol Vera hit his first Dust Devils homer of the year in the fourth to help Tri-City retake a three-run lead, which proved to be the last run Watts-Brown would allow. The right-hander went six innings for the first time in High-A, scattered three hits, walked five and struck out five.

The C’s would add two more runs to their total, first on a run-scoring groundout from Williams with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the fourth. He started the seventh with a double and later came home when newcomer Cutter Coffey – recently acquired from Boston in the Danny Jansen deal – stroked a two-out single to make it 5-4 Dust Devils.

Trailing by a run, the Canadians got a lead-off double for Victor Arias in the eighth but stranded him at second. They put the tying run on base with two outs in the ninth thanks to another Goodwin hit but came up short as they dropped game two of six against the Angels affiliate this week. Vancouver’s offense finished the night 3-for-17 with runners in scoring position and stranded 11 men on base.

The series continues tomorrow night at 7:05 p.m. Connor O’Halloran will take on Tri-City’s Ryan Costeiu. Coverage of RE/MAX Canadians Baseball will be available across the C’s Broadcast Network: Bally Live and Sportsnet 650.