Gm 54: C's win second straight over shaken Volcanoes

(Volcanoes Stadium - Keizer, OR) - The silence lasted for what felt like an eternity as medical staff rushed back and forth between Salem-Keizer's dugout and the mound where 18-year old RHP Gregory Santos lay motionless for nearly 20 minutes. The game, just moments old saw the teenager from San Cristobal, DR disoriented and in significant pain as he was struck square on the head by a line drive off the bat of Canadians DH Griffin Conine stopping the game in its tracks. The velocity of the line drive was just over 102 miles-per-hour and ricochet off Santos' head so hard that as the right-hander crumbled to the ground, the ball spun into foul territory along the first-base line.  
That was the start to Saturday's night game that ended more than four hours later with Vancouver earning a heart-wrenching 8-5 win over Salem-Keizer.
The game was played with a silence throughout the stadium as many awaited word on the status of Santos who was rushed to Salem General Hospital with what is rumoured to be a concussion, no broken bones and some overall discomfort - considering how it looked when it happened, the post-game update was a much needed relief and chance to exhale.
On the field, the Canadians jumped out to another early lead scoring a pair of runs in the top of the 1st and 2nd innings with Canadians 1B Yorman Rodriguez finally connecting on his first home run of the season off Volcanoes reliever RHP Miguel Figueroa just moments after he came in to relieve Santos.
After falling behind by as many as five, the Volcanoes began to mount a comeback scoring three in the bottom of the 7th inning to bring the game to within reach as the Canadians led 7-5 heading to the top of the 8th which is where the C's found the game's final run as RF Brandon Polizzi singled and later scored on a sacrifice fly from CF Tanner Kirwer to give Vancouver a three-run cushion and enough to win a second straight game in Keizer, Oregon.
1B Yorman Rodriguez, LF McGregory Contreras and SS Otto Lopez each had two hits on the night while DH Griffin Conine finished 3-for-5 with a run scored to bump his average to .274 (37-for-135) as the Canadians pounded out 13 hits on the night and now have 37 hits over the first three games of this series.
RHP Jose Espada (3-4) picked up his second win in his last three outings going five innings of two-hit baseball allowing a lone earned run while striking out five. A tough night for RHP Troy Miller (1.0IP, 4ER) was masked by solid outings from RHP Joey Pulido (2.0IP, 0ER) and RHP Cobi Johnson (1.0IP, 3SO, Sv.) who stopped the Volcanoes hopes of another late inning rally.
Wins and losses aside, the Vancouver Canadians Baseball Club and its fans wish to send our thoughts and prayers to Gregory Santos and wish him a comfortable and speedy recovery.
With the victory, Vancouver (10-6) remain a game clear of both Everett (9-7) and Spokane, four better than Tri-City (6-10) as all four teams in the North Division won on Saturday night.
The C's RHP Randy Pondler (3-4, 3.26) gets the ball for the 5:05pm early game on Sunday as the righty from Nicaragua looks for his fourth consecutive win this season.
Vancouver Canadians Baseball returns to Scotiabank Field on Tuesday, August 14th at 7:05pm to open up a six-game homestand against both Tri-City (Aug 14-16) and Spokane (Aug 17-19) with tickets available right now at www.canadiansbaseball.com.
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