Tri-City Shows Late Fight in Loss to Vancouver

PASCO – A Tri-City Dust Devils (26-36 2H, 61-67) off largely stymied Wednesday night came to life in the final few innings, scoring in their final four at-bats but taking a 12-6 defeat at the hands of the Vancouver Canadians (36-26 2H, 63-65) at Gesa Stadium.

The Vancouver win clinched the second half championship for the Canadians, who will play Eugene in the Northwest League Championship Series beginning next Tuesday night north of the border.

Outside of an RBI single in the bottom of the 3^rd by SS Kendrey Maduro, Tri-City could not get much going off either Vancouver starter Dasan Hill or the man who followed, Canadians righty Holden Wilkerson (9-7) in the first five innings. On the flip side, the visitors put up two five-run innings and led 11-1 going to the bottom of the 6^th.

There LF Jonny McGill launched his first High-A homer, a solo blast with two out over the wall in right-center to make it an 11-2 game. Maduro added a second RBI hit in the 7^th inning, picking up RF Jorge Ruiz after he reached second on a throwing error at first.

An 11-3 contest grew further closer in the 8^th, with the first four Dust Devils reaching base. DH Kevyn Castillo led off the inning with a single, and a double by McGill put two in scoring position with no one out. C Alberto Rios walked to load the bases, and 2B Capri Ortiz sent a two-run single to right-center to get Tri-City within six at 11-5. Rios added an RBI single in the Dust Devils’ last try to bring in the final run of the night.

Starter Dylan Jordan (0-2) had a great 1^st inning, going 1-2-3 through the top of the order with a strikeout. Things went sideways in the five-run 2^nd, though, with the righty getting only one more out before his pitch count ran high.

DUST DEVILS NOTES

-Reliever Zach Redner threw three innings of scoreless relief, striking out three in stabilizing things on the mound. The righty from Seffner, Florida threw 36 of his 43 pitches for strikes. With his team out of pitchers infielder Adrian Placencia made his professional pitching debut in the 9^th, giving up a run on two hits in the 9^th and keeping Vancouver within the ballpark.

-Tri-City had nine hits in their final five innings, putting up a total of 11 on the night. Kendrey Maduro, Kevyn Castillo, Alberto Rios and Capri Ortiz all had multi-hit games in pacing the attack, with Maduro extending his hit streak to ten games and Rios adding a game to both his hit (seven games) and on-base (17 games) streaks.

-Vancouver needed the win to clinch the Second Half title, as the Everett AquaSox blew out the Spokane Indians 14-2 at Avista Stadium. The Hillsboro Hops grabbed a road win at PK Park, beating the Eugene Emeralds 5-2 in game two of their three-game series. The Oregon squads will shift to Hops Ballpark over the weekend due to the Oregon Ducks opening their football season at home against Boise State Saturday at Autzen Stadium.

BASEBALL AND BOOMS AGAIN

Tri-City and Vancouver play game three of their six-game series at 6:30 p.m. Thursday night at Gesa Stadium, where the first 500 fans through the gates will receive a 2027 schedule wall calendar thanks to Parkview Estates in Kennewick. Postgame fireworks will light the sky above the Tri, presented by Roto-Rooter.

Right-hander Peyton Olejnik (5-8, 4.47 ERA) will get the start for the Dust Devils, countered by righty Troy Guthrie (3-2, 5.79 ERA) of the Canadians.

Free broadcast coverage on the MiLB app and dustdevilsbaseball.com begins with the Dust Devils Pregame Show at 6:10 p.m. Fans can also watch the game for free on Bally Sports Live (Tri-City broadcast), and via subscription on MLB.tv and the MiLB app.

The final weekend of the season includes the return of the Zooperstars, a 25^th Season jersey auction and more fireworks. For tickets, visit the official ticket site, dustdevilsbaseball.com.