AquaSox Longballs Doom Dust Devils

The Tri-City Dust Devils (27-31) were stung by three home runs off the bat of Everett AquaSox (30-31) hitters in a 5-3 loss Saturday night at Funko Field.

Early on the game took on the shape of Friday’s contest, with neither pitcher giving up a run until the 5th inning. In the bottom of the frame the AquaSox’s Victor Labrada knocked a pitch from Dust Devils starter Ryan Costeiu (3-2) over the right field fence to give Everett a 1-0 lead.

Costeiu got two outs in the inning, one by Straton Podaras catching Everett’s Noelvi Marte stealing, but did not make it out of the 5th. The righty struck out eight and walked three in his 4.2 innings of work.

The AquaSox then kept the 5th inning going, expanding their lead to 4-0 on a 3-run home run by Charlie Welch over the left field fence.

Tri-City, limited by Everett starter Prelander Berroa (2-2) during his five inning start, would score three runs in the top of the 6th, answering the AquaSox big inning with one of their own.

Gabe Matthews drew a walk, extending his on-base streak to 15 games. A Mitch Nay double and an Osmy Gregorio walk loaded the bases for Steven Rivas. The Dust Devils’ right fielder hit a grounder to first baseman Dariel Gomez, who committed both a fielding and throwing error on the play. That allowed Matthews and Nay to score, and Gregorio would follow them in on a passed ball to get Tri-City within a run at 4-3.

Everett would add a third home run in the bottom of the 6th, a Justin Lavey solo shot over the left field wall, to double their lead to 5-3.

Brandon Dufault and Glenn Albanese combined for three innings of scoreless relief, striking out eight AquaSox in their innings, but Everett held the Dust Devils off the scoreboard the rest of the night. Isaiah Campbell pitched the 9th inning for his third save of the season.

Tri-City and Everett close out their six-game series at 4:05 p.m. Sunday afternoon at Funko Field, with the broadcast on-air at 3:50 p.m. with the King Beverage Budweiser Pregame Show at dustdevilsbaseball.com and the MiLB First Pitch app.

From Everett the Dust Devils head down I-5 to Eugene for a seven-game series with the Emeralds. Tickets for Tri-City’s next home series, June 28-July 3 against the Hillsboro Hops, and all games are on sale now. Ticket packages are also available and start at just $99, and special ticket rates are 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 dustdevilsbaseball.com or call 509-544-8789.