Seesaw Sunday Sees C's Come Up Short

VANCOUVER, BC – The first 10-inning game of the season at The Nat finished with the Canadians on the wrong end of a 5-4 final, as the Spokane Indians [COL] secured their spot in the Northwest League Championship Series with a win on Sunday to hand Vancouver their sixth loss in seven games this week.

A two-run homer from Jackson Hornung started the scoring in the opening inning, the first time the C’s scored first in the series. Spokane countered with two runs of their own to tie the game in the third.

Peyton Williams clubbed his first High-A homer of the season in the fourth – a 406-foot shot that left the bat at 109 MPH – but the Indians responded with the tying tally in the top of the fifth to make it 3-3.

Those three runs were all starter Rafael Sanchez would allow. The Cuban right-hander logged his third quality start of the year with six innings in which he scattered seven hits, two walks and four Ks.

A two-out walk in the top of the eighth set up a go-ahead double for the Rockies affiliate that put them in front 4-3 for their first lead of the day, but the Canadians didn’t go down without a fight. Dylan Rock came to the plate with one out in the ninth and hit a rocket to left field that went off the glove of the leaping left fielder and over the fence for a game-tying solo blast, his first of the year.

The game went to extras, where the Indians moved the placed runner to third on a wild pitch and scored him with a sacrifice fly to go ahead 5-4. Vancouver had no answer in the bottom half, going down in order to hand the Indians the first half title.

Williams paced the offense with three hits while Jace Bohrofen logged a pair. Jommer Hernandez extended his hitting streak to a personal-best five games with a fourth inning single.

After an off-day Monday, the C’s begin a seven-game, six-day series in Pasco on Tuesday with a doubleheader opposite the Tri-City Dust Devils [LAA]. First pitch of game one is set for 4:15 p.m. and can be heard on Sportsnet 650.