Dust Devils Done In by Canadians
A late push at the plate got the Tri-City Dust Devils (21-38 2H, 55-70) on the board and put some stress on the Vancouver Canadians (37-24 2H, 75-51), but the visitors ultimately dispelled the notion of a comeback in a 7-3 win Tuesday night to open the final series of
A late push at the plate got the Tri-City Dust Devils (21-38 2H, 55-70) on the board and put some stress on the Vancouver Canadians (37-24 2H, 75-51), but the visitors ultimately dispelled the notion of a comeback in a 7-3 win Tuesday night to open the final series of 2023 at Gesa Stadium.
The first two-thirds of the game were a low-scoring, closely played affair, with Tri-City trailing 1-0 going to the 7th inning. Dust Devils starter Keythel Key (0-1), making his High-A debut, worked around some wildness to go five innings and give up only one run on one hit, a 3rd inning RBI double by Vancouver SS Josh Kasevich. The young right-hander from El Tigrito, Venezuela, walked five and hit a batter but struck out six in a solid first performance in the Northwest League.
On the flipside, Canadians lefty Adam Macko (5-5) held down a Tri-City attack that had plated a combined 28 runs in its previous three games. The southpaw, who had faced the Dust Devils twice earlier in the year and received no-decisions in both starts, held Tri-City without a hit or run in his five-inning outing, walking two and striking out eight.
Vancouver’s offense, which had struggled during a five-game losing streak preceding Tuesday’s contest, broke through and took advantage of walks and two errors to plate five runs in the 7th. An add-on run in the top of the 8th gave the Canadians a 7-0 advantage, with the Dust Devils searching for answers at the plate.
They would find one in the bottom of the 8th, after 3B Caleb Ketchup drew a one-out walk to put a runner on. C Kevin Bruggeman faced Vancouver hurler Leam Mendez, who took over for Macko and had continued the no-hitter into the 8th. Bruggeman crushed a pitch early on in the at-bat out to the soccer fields but pulled it foul. Continuing at the plate, the Hofstra grad lined a ball into the left-center gap for an RBI double that ended both the no-hitter and shutout after 7.1 innings, with Ketchup coming around from first to score and make it a 7-1 game.
Tri-City would add two more in the bottom of the 9th when LF Joe Stewart struck a double to left-center that scored both DH Gustavo Campero (single) and RF Alexander Ramirez (fielder’s choice, no out). The Dust Devils needed two more to reach to bring the tying run to the plate, but the Canadians got the outs needed to secure a win and match Everett at the top of the Northwest League Second Half standings.
Tri-City will look to bounce back in game two of their six-game series with Vancouver at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday night at Gesa Stadium, where it will be Senior Night presented by Providence Medicare Advantage Plans and Kadlec. Right-hander Chase Chaney (7-6, 3.83 ERA) has been announced as the probable starter for the Dust Devils and righty Devereaux Harrison (5-5, 3.01 ERA) the same for the Canadians.
Broadcast coverage will begin with the pregame show at 6:10 p.m., both here and at the MiLB First Pitch app.
Tickets for Wednesday night's game and the full series, including two fireworks nights to close out the season Saturday and Sunday, 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 dustdevilsbaseball.com, call the team office at (509) 544-8789, or visit the team office (10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on game nights, or Monday-Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. otherwise).