SPOKANE, WA – Jommer Hernandez capped his High-A debut on a sweltering Sunday afternoon at Avista Stadium with a solo shot in the top of the ninth to help the Canadians stun the Spokane Indians (Rockies) 5-4 and take two of three in the first series following the All-Star Break.

After Spokane tied the game with two runs in the seventh and two more in the eighth thanks to a two-run homer from Mateo Gil that went off the foul pole in right field to make it 4-4, Hernandez – who doubled home the fourth run of the game for the C’s back in the fourth – attacked the first pitch from reliever Tyler Ahearn (L, 1-1) and clubbed his first professional home run to make it 5-4.

Justin Kelly (W, 4-1) – who surrendered the lead in the eighth – worked around a one-out single in the bottom of the ninth to strand the tying run on base by getting a strikeout of Spokane’s home run leader Colin Simpson and then induced a game-ending ground out from Gil who came to the dish with two outs and representing the winning run with the potential for a three-homer game.

6 Blue Jays prospect Leo Jimenez started the scoring with a two-run blast in the bottom of the first and the C’s extended their lead with four consecutive two-out hits in the fourth to score two runs thanks in part to RBI knocks from #12 Blue Jays prospect Miguel Hiraldo and Hernandez, whose double was his first career High-A hit.

On the mound, Abdiel Mendoza made the start and logged four scoreless stanzas before Sean Wymer went six up, six down in the fifth and sixth.

Eight of nine starters reached base and seven had a hit, led by two each for Hernandez, Hiraldo and Riley Tirotta, who doubled twice and scored a run.

With the win, Vancouver takes two of three from Spokane and has triumphed in ten of their last 11 games while improving to 16-7 in the second half and 46-40 overall. They will carry at least a 2.5 game lead in the standings into their two-week homestand that starts next week.

After an off-day Monday, the C’s welcome the Everett AquaSox (Mariners) to The Nat for a six-game set beginning Tuesday night. First pitch of the series opener is set for 7:05 p.m. and can be heard on CanadiansBaseball.com, MiLB.TV and Sportsnet 650.