Rea leads Canadians past Indians

Reliever Anthony Rea kept Spokane’s offense off balance with three scoreless innings and pitched the Vancouver Canadians’ to a 10-3 Northwest League victory over the Indians Sunday night at Avista Stadium.

All nine of Vancouver’s batters had at least one base hit against Spokane’s four pitchers. Vancouver’s Christian Vitter entered Game 4 batting 1 for 12 in the series, but Sunday night went 4 for 5 with two doubles and three RBI.

“We just came out and swung the bats a little better,” Vancouver manager Rick Magnante said. “It was nice that we showed some offense tonight.”

The Canadians also held down Spokane’s cleanup hitter Chris Davis, the NWL home run leader. Vancouver intentionally walked Davis twice with runners in scoring position.

Vancouver scored runs in the first inning for the first time in the series (two runs), unloading four base hits, including a two-RBI single from Alex Valdez against starting pitcher Juan Carlos Garcia. But Spokane’s Chad Tracy answered with a solo home run to left, his second in the homestand and 10th overall.

The Canadians added three more runs on four hits in the second inning and Garcia, after a perfect third inning, was replaced by Adam Schaecher.

Garcia (0-3) has an ERA of 17.00 after three appearances.