Bears Suffer 2-1 Walk-Off Loss

The Yakima Bears lost to the Vancouver Canadians 2-1 Tuesday night at Nat Bailey Stadium in Vancouver, British Columbia. A bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth sealed the win in the game and the series for the Canadians.

The Bears took the lead with a sacrifice fly from Wagner Mateo that drove in Danny Poma in the first inning. An unearned run for the Canadians in the third inning tied the game at 1-1.

Both lefty starting pitchers had quality starts, but neither earned a decision. Vancouver’s Kyle Anderson spread out seven hits and allowed no walks while giving up one run in a season-long six innings. Daniel Watts of the Bears gave up only the unearned run on three hits and a walk in six innings. RJ Hively tossed a scoreless seventh inning and handed the ball off to Enrique Burgos, who started with a scoreless eighth inning.

The winning run came in the ninth inning, as Enrique Burgos walked the bases full and a one-out sacrifice fly to centerfield gave the Canadians the win. The trio of Bears allowed only three combined hits, but the late walks issued by Burgos led to the Canadians’ win.

The Bears offense, which had been held to four hits in each of the first three games of the series, finished with eight hits Tuesday. The top two hitters in the order had four of the hits, as Poma went 2-for-3 with a walk and a run and Josh Parr finished 2-for-4. All of the Bears hits were singles.

The series is lost for the Bears, but it’s not over. The Bears and Canadians finish the five-game set with a 1:05 game Wednesday. Left-handed pitcher Cody Wheeler of the Bears and right-handed pitcher Taylor Cole of the Canadians are the probable pitchers for the rubber match.