Ezequiel Tovar leads hit parade, Spokane Indians down Vancouver 5-4

Ezequiel Tovar went 3 for 5 with two RBIs and the Spokane Indians held off the Vancouver Canadians 5-4 in the first of a six-game High-A West series in Hillsboro, Oregon on Tuesday. 

[BOX SCORE courtesy MILB.com]

The Indians (61-46) remained one-half game ahead of second-place Eugene (62-48) and moved two games ahead of third-place Everett (60-49). Spokane has won four in a row and 23 of its last 29 games.

Spokane banged out 13 hits, five for extra bases, and drew four walks. The Indians went 5 for 16 with runners in scoring position and left 11 runners on base. 

Trailing 2-0 entering the third inning, the Indians exploded for four runs. Tovar delivered a an RBI double then scored on a single by Brenton Doyle.

Doyle went to second on a groundout and scored on a fielding error, which allowed Aaron Schunk to reach second. Schunk later scored on a single by Hunter Stovall. 

The Indians made it 6-3 in the sixth. Daniel Cope led off with a single, went to third on a double by Jack Blomgren and scored on a Tovar popup single. 

Indians starter Noah Davis departed after 3 1/3 innings reportedly due to a blister on his pitching hand. He allowed two runs on two hits and three walks with two strikeouts. 

Dugan Darnell struck out three over two scoreless innings to earn his 13th save of the season.

Around the league

Eugene 9, Everett 6: Armani Smith went 2 for 4 with two homers and five RBIs and the Emeralds (62-48) beat the visiting AquaSox (60-49). Sean Roby and Ismael Munguia went also went deep for Eugene. Cade Marlowe went 3 for 4 with a homer and four RBIs for Everett.

Hillsboro at Tri-City: The first of a six-game series between the visiting Hops (48-59) and the Dust Devils (42-64) was cancelled due to COVID-19 concerns with Tri-City.