Indians pitching struggles in 10-1 loss to Canadians
Vancouver starter Kendry Rojas tamed Spokane’s lineup over seven quick innings, and the Canadians’ offense backed him up with a couple of big scoring bursts.
Rojas cruised through Spokane’s order, allowing four hits on 79 pitches during his scoreless outing. The Canadians stacked up five runs in the seventh inning and rolled to a 10-1 rout of the Indians on Friday evening in Northwest League play at Avista Stadium.
Rojas (3-1), the No. 12 prospect in the Toronto Blue Jays organization, threw just seven pitches in both the second and sixth innings. He threw 10 in both the third and fourth frames.
The Indians’ batters couldn’t sustain any momentum against the 21-year-old Cuban, who induced plenty of groundballs and got a tremendous effort from his defense. The Canadians’ middle infielders turned two double plays and made a handful of tough throws to first base. Rojas struck out three against two walks. His ERA on the season improved to 2.06.
Leading 5-0, Vancouver pounced on Spokane reliever Felix Ramires during a brutal seventh inning for the hosts. The Canadians (27-19 second half) opened the frame with back-to-back walks. Ramires then plunked a batter and balked home a run moments later.
Vancouver’s Cutter Coffey bounced a two-run double down the left-field line. Jay Harry launched a two-run homer over the right-field wall. The Canadians piled up five runs and made it 10-0 before the Indians (30-16) had recorded an out.
The Canadians knocked around Spokane starter Jack Mahoney in the third inning. Following back-to-back one-out singles, Vancouver slugger Adrian Pinto chopped a two-run double just fair inside the right-field line. Two batters later, Jace Bohrofen hooked a two-run homer down the line in right field.
Jackson Hornung batted in another Vancouver runner with a double in the fourth, making the score 5-0 in favor of the visitors.
The Indians only threatened to score on two occasions when Rojas was on the mound. Spokane put two on with no outs in the bottom of the first, but Rojas escaped the jam with two pop-outs and a pick-off at second. Spokane’s Skyler Messinger opened the fifth inning with a double and GJ Hill followed with a walk, but the Canadians ended the would-be rally with a lineout and a 6-4-3 double play.
Mahoney, a Spokane newcomer who was making his third start for the team, fell to 1-1 at the High-A level. He surrendered five earned runs on seven hits and two walks, and struck out four over five innings. Mahoney threw 101 pitches, 62 for strikes.
Hill hit a long homer to center field in the eighth inning for Spokane’s lone score.
The Canadians outhit Spokane 11-6. Every Vancouver starter reached base. Outfielder Cole Carrigg, the No. 8 overall prospect in the Colorado Rockies minor league system, batted 2 for 3 for Spokane. He also made a diving catch in center field to strand Vancouver runners on the corners during Ramires’ scoreless sixth.
Indians reliever Sergio Sanchez struck out five and allowed one hit during his three scoreless innings to end the game.
The Canadians evened this six-game series at 2-2 and moved to within three games of first-place Spokane in the Northwest League second-half standings.
The teams meet again at 6:35 p.m. Saturday.