Kendry Carries Canadians To Victory

HILLSBORO, OR – MLB.com’s #11 Blue Jays prospect Kendry Rojas was at his best Friday night in Hillsboro, leading the Canadians to a 2-1 win over the Hops [AZ] with the first quality start of his High-A career.

The lefty matched zeroes with Hops southpaw Avery Short (L, 5-7) for the first three innings before the C’s manufactured an unearned run in the fourth. Perfect after nine batters, Short should have recorded his tenth straight out to begin the inning but a ground ball off the bat of Dasan Brown was booted at second to put Vancouver’s first runner of the game aboard. A walk and a ground out followed, giving the Canadians a chance to score a run without a hit. Up stepped Jace Bohrofen, whose fly ball to medium depth right field turned out to be just deep enough to score Brown from third on a sacrifice fly and make it 1-0 C’s.

Rojas put up another zero in the fourth but gave up the lead in the fifth. Hillsboro rallied for three consecutive one-out singles to load the bases before a pop up on the infield became the second out. With the bases still loaded, Wilderd Patino hit a soft chopper in between the mound and third base. Rojas bounced off the slope, fielded the ground ball then kept running towards third in an attempt to get the trail runner. The ball came out of his glove on the tag, everyone was safe and the game was tied 1-1.

The Hops had a chance to take the lead with the bases still full and two away, but Rojas struck out Jose Fernandez – who had already got to him for two hits earlier in the game – to keep the game tied. The Cuban starter finished his night with a perfect sixth that featured back-to-back strikeouts to establish his new High-A career mark at seven.

After Chay Yeager (W, 4-4) tossed a 1-2-3 seventh, the Canadians struck for the go-ahead run in the top of the eighth. Brennan Orf singled and was replaced by pinch runner Marcos De La Rosa, who stole second then scampered to third on a groundout. With two away, a wild pitch allowed De La Rosa to dash home and put Vancouver ahead 2-1.

Conor Larkin (S, 3) struck out a pair in a perfect ninth to lock down the win and prevent the Hops from taking the six-game series before the weekend is out.

The Canadians go back to work tomorrow night at 7:05 p.m., with Rafael Sanchez on the slope opposite Hillsboro’s Roman Angelo. RE/MAX Canadians Baseball will air live on Sportsnet 650.