Tenacious team win ends Canadians' losing skid
Phil Clarke had two hits and three RBIs for the Vancouver Canadians on Thursday. Photo: Vancouver Canadians/Twitter
August 26, 2021
Official Vancouver Canadians News Release
HILLSBORO, OR – The Vancouver Canadians struck early, rallied to retake the lead then fended off a late scare to beat the Hillsboro Hops (Diamondbacks) 8-6 Friday night at Ron Tonkin Field.
Vancouver scored their first run of the night as early as they possibly good when Rafael Lantigua slugged a lead-off home run on the first pitch of the game.
A pair of infield singles, a hit by pitch and a two-RBI double in the bottom of the third put the Hops ahead 2-1, but Andrew Bash (W, 2-0) struck out two batters with runners at second and third then worked around a two-out walk to leave the bases loaded and keep the deficit to one run.
The C’s didn’t trail for long. Spencer Horwitz started the comeback with a double to begin the fourth, Orelvis Martinez followed with a walk then Will Robertson tied the game with a run-scoring single to right field. Davis Schneider worked a 10-pitch walk that prompted a pitching change before Phil Clarke greeted the new pitcher with a four-pitch free pass to force home the go-ahead score. Zac Cook walked in a run two batters later to make it 4-2.
A three-run fifth put the Canadians up by five. Robertson battled to fill the count before he was issued a two-out walk, Schneider singled and Clarke doubled home both to bring the score to 6-2. Andres Guerra came up next and brought in the runner with an RBI base hit.
After Bash went three, Hagen Danner hung a couple of zeroes in the sixth and seventh.
The Canadians plated a big insurance run in the top of the eighth. Lantigua walked, went to third on an error and scored when Martinez singled him in to put the C’s in front 8-2.
Hillsboro made things interesting with three runs on a walk and three hits in the eighth then came to the plate in the ninth trailing 8-5. An error put the first batter on base and a double on the next pitch scored a run to cut the C’s lead to two. After an infield single had runners at the corners and nobody out, on came Gabriel Ponce (S, 1) to try and secure the win. The right-hander struck out the first batter he faced before inducing a game-ending double play to lock down the victory.
Horwitz and Tanner Morris continued their recent success by extending their respective hitting streaks to 15 consecutive games, the longest of the year for any Canadians hitter. Clarke led the offence with two hits, a run scored, three RBI and a walk while Lantigua had a pair of knocks, two runs scored an RBI and a free pass.
No. 8 Blue Jays prospect Adam Kloffenstein will look to lead Vancouver to their second consecutive win to even the series tomorrow night. He’ll be opposed by Hillsboro’s Shumpei Yoshikawa. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.