Canadians rally late to end losing streak

Right-hander Connor Law struck out three in scoreless innings in relief for the Vancouver Canadians on Saturday. Photo: Vancouver Canadians/Twitter

July 10, 2021

Official Vancouver Canadians News Release

Hillsboro, OR – A two-run rally in the bottom of the eighth spurred the Vancouver Canadians to a 5-3 win over the Spokane Indians (Rockies) Saturday night at Ron Tonkin Field.

Tied 3-3 after seven, the C’s got going with a one-out single from DJ Neal. Eric Rivera walked to put two men on for Rafael Lantigua, who singled to right field to plate Neal. A throwing error on the play put runners at second and third to set up a sacrifice fly from Tanner Morris that put Vancouver up 5-3.

The Canadians twice erased a one-run deficit. They fell behind 1-0 after a half inning before scoring two in the bottom of the first. Lantigua and Morris singled to start the inning then Luis De Los Santos doubled home the tying run. Sebastian Espino followed with a fly ball to centre field that was deep enough to score Morris and put the C’s ahead 2-1. Spokane tied it with a run in the second and went up 3-2 with another run in the fourth, but Vancouver rallied to tie the game in the sixth after a one-out triple from Ryan Gold and a sacrifice fly from Ronny Brito.

CJ Van Eyk made his 11th start of the year for the C’s. The No. 10 Blue Jays prospect worked five innings, allowed three runs on five hits, walked two and struck out six before passing the torch to the bullpen. Alex Nolan (Burlington, Ont.) and Connor Law (W, 1-0) combined on four scoreless innings of relief to secure the win. The former didn’t allow a hit while the latter K’d three and set down the side in order in the ninth.

With the win, the Canadians secured sole possession of third place and improved to 11-6 against Spokane this year. Lantigua paced the offence with three hits and De Los Santos added a pair of knocks to give him a team-high 60 base hits this year, the second most in the High-A West. Rivera reached base thrice with a single and two walks. Three sacrifice flies are the most Vancouver has hit in a game this year.

MLB.com’s No. 9 Blue Jays prospect Adam Kloffenstein (3-4, 6.18 ERA) will go for his second win of the week in the series finale Sunday afternoon at 1:05 p.m. He’ll be opposed by southpaw Breiling Eusebio (0-1, 37.80 ERA), who had his Advanced-A debut spoiled by the C’s on Tuesday.