Down to Last Out, Dust Devils Come Back to Beat Canadians

VANCOUVER, B.C. – 2B Adrian Placencia’s two-out, two-run double in the top of the 9^th inning flipped the Friday afternoon script for the Tri-City Dust Devils (5-1 2H, 35-37), turning what looked like a 2-1 loss into a 3-2 win over the Vancouver Canadians (2-3 2H, 39-32) at Rogers Field at Nat Bailey Stadium.

The inning began with 1B Matt Coutney singling to left to get aboard as the potential tying run. After RF Randy De Jesus struck out, a one-out single by 3B Cole Fontenelle put runners at first and second. SS Arol Vera lined out, putting Tri-City on the ropes, but his fellow middle infielder came through in the clutch by lining the first pitch he saw from Vancouver reliever Yondrei Rojas (0-1) down the right field line. Coutney scored easily and Fontenelle got the wave, just getting his hand to the plate before the tag to score what ended up the winning run. Tri-City’s first run came in the top of the 5^th inning, after Fontenelle drew a walk and stole both second and third. LF Alexander Ramirez, in an 0-for-20 slump, waited on a slider and laced it through the left side for an RBI single that scored Fontenelle for a 1-1 tie.

The bullpen impressed for the Dust Devils with Jake Smith (2-3) going the final three innings, allowing only a walk in the 7^th and retiring the last seven batters he faced for the win. Lefty Leonard Garcia went 1.2 innings scorelessly for the visitors, following starter Keythel Key’s 4.1 inning, two-run outing.

DUST DEVILS NOTES

-Adrian Placencia has continued to have great success with runners in scoring position, hitting .346 in those situations over 52 games. The 9^th inning was his second two-out, two-run double of the season, with his first extending and tying a game in Hillsboro on April 26^th.

-The win gave Tri-City its second win of the series, marking the first time this season that the Dust Devils have taken at least two games off Vancouver in either a three or six-game series.

-Alexander Ramirez’s RBI single not only broke his 0-for-20 stretch but also gave him his first RBI in the month of June. Tri-City has driven in seven of its 11 runs so far this week with two out.

LET’S PLAY TWO

Tri-City and Vancouver will play a doubleheader of seven-inning games Saturday, with game one scheduled to begin at 1:05 p.m. Right-hander Chris Cortez (2-2, 3.28 ERA) goes for the Dust Devils, countered by righty Fernando Perez (4-3, 4.06 ERA) of the Canadians. A second game will follow 30-45 minutes after game one concludes.

Free audio-only coverage begins with the Dust Devils Pregame Show, starting at 12:45 p.m. at dustdevilsbaseball.com and the MiLB app.

The Dust Devils return home after their time abroad to host the Spokane Indians for a three-game series beginning on a Coca-Cola Tuesday night, July 1^st, at 7:05 p.m. The short set ends with the annual Independence Day Fireworks extravaganza on Thursday, July 3^rd, with the teams then decamping to Spokane Valley for three more games over the weekend.

For tickets to the Spokane series, and for all 2025 Dust Devils home games, visit the official ticket site, dustdevilsbaseball.com.