Canadians slug their way to win over Spokane
Luis De Los Santos had two hits - including a home run - for the Vancouver Canadians on Sunday. Photo: Vancouver Canadians/Twitter
July 11, 2021
Official Vancouver Canadians News Release
Hillsboro, OR – Sebastian Espino and Luis De Los Santos both hit two-run homers to back a strong showing from starter Adam Kloffenstein and lead the Vancouver Canadians to a 4-3 win over the Spokane Indians (Rockies) Sunday afternoon at Ron Tonkin Field.
Trailing 1-0 in the third, Vancouver got a two-out single from De Los Santos to set up Espino’s blast, which gave the C’s a 2-1 lead. It was the Bonao, D.R. native’s third home run of the season.
De Los Santos hit his team-best eighth big fly of 2021 in the fifth after Tanner Morris worked a one-out walk. The two-run homer made it 4-1 and gave De Los Santos 46 RBIs on the season, the second-most in the High-A West.
Kloffenstein (W, 4-4) turned in his second quality start (six or more innings pitched, three earned runs or less) of the year. The 20-year-old went six innings, allowed two runs on four hits, walked three, struck out four and hit a batter to earn his second win of the series.
Spokane managed to plate a run in the eighth to bring them within one, but Cobi Johnson (H, 3) and Parker Caracci (S, 6) proved to be too much for them to handle as the Canadians triumphed 4-3. Caracci’s sixth save moved him into a tie for the league lead.
Espino and De Los Santos both finished the day with two hits in four at-bats. The latter was responsible for all four runs the C’s scored (two RBIs, two runs) and now has 62 hits this season. Rafael Lantigua (single) and John Aiello (double) were the only other Vancouver hitters with a knock.
With the win, the C’s are now 30-30 through the first half of the 120-game schedule. They improved their Sunday record to 8-2 and are now 7-2 in day games this year.
After an off-day Monday, the C’s return to “The Tonk” on Tuesday as the visitors to take on the Hillsboro Hops (Diamondbacks). Right-hander Luis Quinones (2-3, 3.19 ERA) gets the nod for Vancouver while Hillsboro has yet to name their starter.