Dust Devils Take Five of Six Off League-Leading Emeralds

The Tri-City Dust Devils (14-18) staged another mid-to-late inning rally Sunday night, scoring all their runs in the 6^th inning and later in a 5-3 win over the Eugene Emeralds (19-13) Sunday night at PK Park.

The win gave Tri-City a five-games-to-one series win over the team at the top of the Northwest League standings, bringing them four games closer to and five games behind Eugene in a tightening First Half race.

Sunday’s game began largely as a pitcher’s duel, with Dust Devils starter Jorge Marcheco allowing only a 1^st inning solo home run to Emeralds SS Diego Velasquez over 4.2 innings of work before leaving after slipping while throwing to first on a bunt out. Lefty starter Hayden Wynja countered with five scoreless innings for the home team, working out of a bases loaded, no out jam in the top of the 2^nd to keep his team ahead by a score of 1-0.

As it was on Saturday night, though, the 6^th inning proved the spot in the game where Tri-City would turn the tide and, fittingly, Saturday’s 6^th inning hero struck the blow that gave the visitors the lead. C Kevin Bruggeman came to the plate after RF Jadiel Sanchez and 1B Matt Coutney opened the inning with back-to-back singles and SS Shane Matheny laid down a sacrifice bunt to move them into scoring position.

With the infield drawn in, Bruggeman hit a hard grounder past the feet of Eugene reliever Daniel Blair (0-2) and through into center field, scoring Sanchez and Coutney to give Tri-City a 2-1 lead. The hit put a bow on a week in which the backstop from Trumbull, Connecticut hit .461 (6-13) in four games with a grand slam, a double and 9 RBI.

1B Cam Williams then came to the plate and sent a broken bat bouncer inside the third base bag down the left field line for a run-scoring double, plating Bruggeman to make it 3-1. Dust Devils reliever Carlos Espinosa (3-0), who came in to finish the 5^th inning for Marcheco, backed the rally with a scoreless bottom of the 6^th.

The 7^th inning saw another Tri-City hitter cap a great week in Eugene when 3B Ben Gobbel socked his third home run of the week over the wall in left-center, pushing the lead to 4-1. The infielder from Cumming, Georgia hit .320 (8-25) while playing in all six games, driving in four runs, scoring eight times, and tying for the Northwest League lead in longballs (5).

Tri-City would not run away with the game, though, as they had at other points in the week. DH Tanner O’Tremba sent a two-run home run over the left field wall in the bottom of the 7^th to bring his team within a run at 4-3. The Emeralds threatened further in the frame, but Jake Smith came in from the pen and induced a fly ball out to keep the visitors in front.

Matt Coutney then took his turn at finishing a great week at PK by bringing home an insurance run in the top of the 9^th via sacrifice fly. The corner infielder and Wetaskiwin, Alberta native hit .450 (9-20) in the six-game set with two doubles and three RBI, also drawing five walks and scoring five runs over the week.

The late-inning combo of Brady Choban and Cam Minacci handled the rest of the game from the mound for the Dust Devils by throwing a perfect 8^th and 9^th inning, respectively, with Minacci collecting his fifth save of the year.

Coming off their first series win of 2024 and getting themselves back within range in the NWL First Half race, Tri-City returns home to start a six-game series with the Hillsboro Hops beginning at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday night at Gesa Stadium. It’s Sip and Paint Night at the ballpark, with fans able to purchase a ticket that includes a painting session (supplies and instruction included) before the game and two drink tickets. More information on Sip and Paint night can be found HERE.

Starting pitchers for Tuesday’s game have yet to be announced. Broadcast coverage of the game begins with the pregame show at 6:10 p.m, both here and with video coverage in the MiLB Zone of the Bally Live app and MiLB.tv.

Tickets for the Hillsboro series are on sale now, with special ticket rates available for groups of 20 or more. For more information on Dust Devils single game, season, mini-plan (11, 22, 33) and group tickets, visit the team’s official ticketing site, dustdevilsbaseball.com.