A Little Too Extra: Dust Devils Fall in Ten to Emeralds
A tightly played tilt took ten innings to decide Thursday night in the Tri-Cities, where back-to-back doubles by the Eugene Emeralds (28-24) in the extra frame powered the visitors to a 4-2 win over the Tri-City Dust Devils (23-29) at Gesa Stadium. The first nine innings saw the teams deadlocked
A tightly played tilt took ten innings to decide Thursday night in the Tri-Cities, where back-to-back doubles by the Eugene Emeralds (28-24) in the extra frame powered the visitors to a 4-2 win over the Tri-City Dust Devils (23-29) at Gesa Stadium.
The first nine innings saw the teams deadlocked in a 2-2 tie, with Tri-City missing out on an opportunity for a walk-off win in the bottom of the 9th. Eugene then started the 10th with their automatic runner, DH Matt Higgins, at second. 2B Quinn McDaniel brought Higgins in with the first double, down the left field line, and 1B Andrew Kachel turned a Carlos Espinosa (4-2) pitch around for his second double of the night. The two-bagger hil the wall in right-center on the fly, scoring McDaniel to give the Emeralds a 4-2 lead and put extra pressure on the Dust Devils.
Tri-City started the bottom of the 10th with RF Jorge Ruiz at second. The outfielder tagged up and moved to third on a flyout but ultimately ended up the eighth and final runner left on base, with Eugene reliever Cam Cotter (4-3) getting 1B Matt Coutney to fly out to end the game.
The Dust Devils scored their runs in the bottom of the 5th inning, after Emeralds starter Jack Choate retired the first twelve batters he faced. SS Chad Stevens broke up any thoughts of a perfect game or no-hitters, singling to left to become the first Tri-City batter to reach. 3B Andy Blake then bunted to the right side of the infield in an attempt to sacrifice. Choate fielded it and threw wide of first, his error allowing Stevens to score and tie the game at 1-1. Blake reached third on the play, scoring when the next batter, DH Kevin Bruggeman, singled to right-center to give the home nine a 2-1 lead.
Pressure on the battery had gotten the Emeralds their first two runs of the game. SS Diego Velasquez scored on a wild pitch in the 3rd inning, and CF Turner Hill scored the tying run in the 7th on a throwing error triggered by a double steal. The latter would be the only run given up by Dust Devils hurler Erik Rivera, who went five innings and struck out seven as the bulk man following starter Ryan Costeiu and reliever Willian Suarez, who bridged the gap.
Tri-City fell to 0-3 in extra-inning games, with all three losses coming at home. Eugene moved to 2-3 in games going longer than originally scheduled with the win, which gave the visitors a two-games-to-one series lead.
The Dust Devils hand the baton for the remainder of the weekend to the Columbia River Rooster Tails, who will meet up with the Emeralds for game four of their six-game series at 6:30 p.m. Friday night at Gesa Stadium. It’s a Family Feast Night presented by Prime Dental, with $2 hot dogs, 12 oz. Coca-Cola products, ice cream sandwiches, chips and Laffy Taffy ropes available for all to enjoy.
Right-hander Joel Hurtado (4-4, 5.55 ERA) will get the start for Columbia River, facing righty Manuel Mercedes (2-2, 5.23 ERA) of Eugene. Broadcast coverage of Friday night’s game begins with the pregame show at 6:10 p.m. both here and on the MiLB app, with video coverage on Bally Live and MiLB.tv.
Tickets for the Rooster Tails weekend 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.