Kirwer belts grand slam to lead Vancouver Canadians to win

Sherwood Park Dukes alum Tanner Kirwer (Sherwood Park, Alta.) belted a grand slam in the eighth inning to lead the Vancouver Canadians to a win on Friday. Photo: Vancouver Canadians/Twitter

May 14, 2021

Official Vancouver Canadians News Release

HILLSBORO, OR – An eighth inning grand slam from Tanner Kirwer cemented an 8-2 win for the Vancouver Canadians Friday night, as the Advanced-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays took down the Spokane Indians (Rockies) for the third consecutive game at Ron Tonkin Field

With the C’s leading 4-2, Phil Clarke started the eighth with a double before consecutive walks set the table for Kirwer. The Sherwood Park, Alta., native launched a 3-2 pitch deep into the Hillsboro night for his team-best third home run of the season.

Spokane started the scoring with a run in the first. Eddy Diaz singled to start the game, went to third on a Hunter Stovall base hit then scored on an RBI groundout to make it 1-0 Indians.

Vancouver tied it in the bottom of the second. Ryan Gold hit a rule book double, went to third on Clarke’s infield single and scored on a double play that evened the score at 1-1.

The C’s took the lead in the bottom of the third after a Kirwer single, a stolen base and a Luis De Los Santos RBI base hit, but Spokane’s Michael Toglia hit his league-best fifth home run off the left field foul pole to tie the game 2-2.

Right-hander Nick Fraze (W, 2-0) was terrific in his first career Advanced-A start. The Dallas, Tex., product went a team-high six innings, scattered four hits, didn’t walk a batter and struck out six.

Single runs in the home half of the fifth and seventh allowed Vancouver to retake a lead they would not relinquish before Kirwer’s big fly landed the knockout blow.

Parker Caracci and Hagen Danner combined on the final three innings of relief to keep the Indians off the scoreboard.

Kirwer paced the offence with three hits, four RBI, three runs scored and two stolen bases. Clarke, De Los Santos and Tanner Morris contributed two hits apiece.

Vancouver and Spokane meet again on Saturday night. No. 9 Blue Jays prospect (MLB.com) Adam Kloffenstein gets the nod for the C’s while the Indians have tabbed MLB.com’s No. 7 Rockies prospect Helcris Olivarez. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.