Feisty Tri-City Squad Again Rallies Late, Again A Run Short in Extras

The Tri-City Dust Devils (1-6) again found a flurry of late offense to provide bonus baseball to the Tri-City faithful, but the Spokane Indians (7-0) found a way to pull out a 7-6, 10-inning victory in front of 1,668 spectators Friday night at Gesa Stadium.

The margin stood once more at four runs for Tri-City to score to extend the ballgame and they hit the mark on the nose, sending all nine players to the plate and scoring four runs. 1B Matt Coutney led off the bottom of the 9^th with a ringing triple to the gap in left-center field. DH Will McGillis then picked him up with an RBI groundout and Tri-City had cut the lead to 5-2.

The Dust Devils then started again, down to their final out. 2B Caleb Ketchup singled to left and C Kevin Bruggeman walked, bringing LF Joe Stewart to the plate. Stewart hit a well-placed grounder up the middle, reaching for an infield hit, with the runners moving up. Ketchup, though, rounded third and went for home, drawing a throw to the plate. The ball got home in plenty of time, but the errant throw skipped away and allowed Ketchup to score.

Now a 5-3 contest, Tri-City needed a couple more hits to make it all the way back for the seond time in three nights. They got them, two-out RBI singles from 3B Ben Gobbel and SS Denzer Guzman to left field off Indians reliever Zach Agnos (2-0) that scored Bruggeman and Stewart, respectively, to tie the ballgame at 5-5. RF Jadiel Sanchez then came to the plate with a chance to win the game but his fly ball to right field was caught, sending the game to extra innings.

Spokane scored two unearned runs in the 10^th inning on two costly errors to retake the lead and add a bit of insurance at 7-5. Both runs were charged to Dust Devils reliever Leonard Garcia (1-1), who got the loss. Tri-City would make one more charge, loading the bases in the bottom of the 10^th via the automatic runner, an error, and a walk. Though they got a run back on a sacrifice fly by Ketchup, Agnos faced Bruggeman with two outs and struck him out looking to end the game.

Both teams had ten hits, two errors, and left ten on base. Indians starter Chase Dollander, though getting a no-decision, went five strong innings and struck out eight. The 2023 1^st round pick gave up just one run: a solo blast of a home run off the bat of Ketchup over the left-center wall in the bottom of the 5^th. It was the first home run for both player and team in 2024. Dust Devils starter Jorge Marcheco also went five innings, giving up four runs on six hits and striking out four and also getting a no-decision.

Spokane clinched the series with the win and continued their perfect start to 2024. Tri-City will look again for their first home win of the season in game five of their six-game series with their Inland Northwest rivals, scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Saturday night at Gesa Stadium. The Dust Devils will play for the first time in 2024 as the Columbia River Rooster Tails, their alternate moniker celebrating the summer’s hydroplane races on the water. Postgame fireworks presented by BNSF will serve as the nightcap.

Right-hander Walbert Ureña (0-0, 5.40 ERA) heads to the mound for the Rooster Tails, bringing his triple-digit heat to the Gesa Stadium mound for the first time. Left-hander Sean Sullivan (0-0, 0.00 ERA), who struck out 13 in his Indians debut last Saturday, gets the start for the Indians.

Broadcast coverage will begin with the pregame show at 6:10 p.m. Saturday night, both here and on the MiLB app. Video coverage, via MiLB.tv, will begin shortly before the scheduled 6:30 p.m. first pitch.

Tickets for both Saturday night's game and Sunday’s 1:30 p.m. matinee 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.