Five-Run Vancouver 1st Floods Rooster Tails’ Engines

A 1^st inning five-spot by the visiting Vancouver Canadians (38-26 2H, 76-53) left the Tri-City Dust Devils (23-39 2H, 76-53) stuck in their wake Friday night, with Vancouver pulling away for an 8-2 win in front of 2,546 at Gesa Stadium.

Playing for the last time in 2023 as the Columbia River Rooster Tails, the home nine hit back early with a two-run 2^nd inning. 3B Werner Blakely walked, RF Joe Stewart singled, and 1B Cam Williams lined a double to left center to score Blakely to make it 5-1. LF Casey Dana added a sacrifice fly later in the frame to plate Stewart to get back within three at 5-2.

Rooster Tails starter C.J. Mayhue (1-1) rebounded after his tough top of the 1^st, holding the Canadians scoreless for the remainder of his four-inning outing. The lefty worked out of a bases loaded situation in the 3^rd inning and struck out three in likely his final outing of 2023. The game settled in from there, with neither team denting the scoreboard in the 3^rd through 7^th innings due to solid relief work from a pair of Mendezes: Columbia River’s Haminton Mendez and Vancouver’s Leam Mendez (1-0).

5-2 the score remained until the top of the 8^th inning. Haminton Mendez, who went 3.2 innings in relief and struck out five in a solid second performance, left after a walk to Canadians DH Josh Kasevich put two on with two out. Rooster Tails reliever Cam Tullar came in to face a fellow southpaw, 1B Peyton Williams. The two battled and Williams got the upper hand, drawing a walk to load the bases.

That brought up 3B Jeff Wehler, recently returned to the Vancouver roster from Double-A New Hampshire. Tullar got ahead 0-2 and looked for another strikeout and escape for Columbia River, but Wehler drove an opposite field line drive over Stewart and to the right field wall for a bases-clearing triple and the 8-2 final margin.

The game closed out the 2023 schedule for the Rooster Tails, who finished with a 4-5 mark. The win for the Canadians, meanwhile, evened the series with Tri-City at two games apiece with the six-gamer up for grabs with two games to play.

The Dust Devils return to take on Vancouver in game five of their series at 6:30 p.m. Saturday night at Gesa Stadium, with a dazzling postgame fireworks show presented by Toyota of Tri-Cities. Right-hander Rafael Sanchez (0-8, 5.50 ERA) is the projected starter for the Canadians, while Tri-City has not yet announced its starter.

Broadcast coverage will begin with the pregame show at 6:10 p.m., both here and at the MiLB First Pitch app.

Tickets for both Saturday's ballgame and Sunday’s season finale fireworks night 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).