Two-Out Rally Leads To Wild C's Walk-Off

VANCOUVER, BC – A five-run bottom of the ninth flipped Sunday’s series finale with the Hillsboro Hops [D-Backs] on its head and turned the Canadians into 8-7 winners to wrap up the first homestand of the year at Rogers Field at Nat Bailey Stadium. Ryan McCarty and Nick Goodwin delivered the tying and game-winning knocks to complete one of the biggest C’s comebacks since becoming a High-A affiliate of the Blue Jays in 2021.

Trailing 7-3 to start the bottom of the ninth, the first two batters were retired by Hops reliever and Vancouver native Eli Saul. The rally started in the next plate appearance when Dylan Rock was hit by a pitch. What could have been a game-ending groundout in the next at-bat instead turned into an E-4 that put two aboard. Jean Arnaez was also plunked to load the bases, which set the table for Dasan Brown. The Oakville, ON native laced an 0-1 pitch into right field that plated a pair and bounced Saul from the game.

Now down 7-5, the C’s had runners at first and second for McCarty. The Yardley, PA native – who cracked a go-ahead three-run homer in the third to make it 3-2 – worked the count full against hard-throwing righty Zane Russell (L, 1-1) and fouled off a two-strike pitch before shooting a line drive in between the first baseman and the bag that allowed the tying run to score from first to make it 7-7.

After a Jace Bohrofen walk, up stepped Goodwin. Hitless in his first four at-bats, the former Kansas State Wildcat reached out and poked a 2-1 breaking ball that was off the plate into shallow right field that just eluded the dive of the right fielder to score McCarty from second and win the game for Vancouver 8-7.

The game featured a five-run frame for both sides. Hillsboro capitalized on four walks – including two with the bases loaded – an infield single, an error and a dropped third strike in the top of the sixth to turn a 3-2 C’s lead into a 7-3 Hops advantage.

Despite the four-run deficit, a trio of Canadians relievers – Anders Tolhurst, Naswell Paulino and Rafael Ohashi (W, 1-0) – combined to keep the future D-Backs off the scoreboard from the seventh to the ninth to keep the game close enough for the bats to mount their comeback.

McCarty paced the offense with six total bases, five RBI and two runs scored. He wraps up the week with an eye-popping stat line: he went 8-for-19 (.421) with three doubles, a triple, two homers, five runs scored and 10 RBI in five games played, though all of his hits and RBI came between Friday’s doubleheader and today’s series finale.

With five wins in their first six home games, the C’s are now 5-4 as they get set to embark on their second road trip of the season. They’ll start their six-game set at Eugene’s PK Park on Wednesday, April 17 at 7:05 p.m. before returning home April 23-28 against Spokane. Tickets for those games are available now at CanadiansBaseball.com.