Walks Doom Dust Devils in Afternoon Loss to AquaSox
A second inning gone awry dug too large a hole for the Tri-City Dust Devils (5-11) Tuesday afternoon, and the visiting Everett AquaSox (5-11) took advantage to set the foundation for a 15-2 blowout of the home nine at Gesa Stadium. Tri-City starter Joel Hurtado (0-2) began by retiring the
A second inning gone awry dug too large a hole for the Tri-City Dust Devils (5-11) Tuesday afternoon, and the visiting Everett AquaSox (5-11) took advantage to set the foundation for a 15-2 blowout of the home nine at Gesa Stadium.
Tri-City starter Joel Hurtado (0-2) began by retiring the first four batters he saw before running into trouble in the top of the 2nd. The righty, who had put together three good outings to begin his 2024 on the right foot, lost control of the strike zone and walked six Everett batters in a row. The walks handed the visitors three runs and ended Hurtado’s day prematurely.
The 3-0 lead quickly grew from there. A sacrifice fly put another run on the board before AquaSox 3B Ben Williamson cleared the bases with a double to left-center. In all, Everett scored seven runs on one hit in the frame, leading 7-0 after an inning-and-a-half.
Still with plenty of opportunities ahead of them, the Dust Devils pushed to get back in the game by scoring twice in the bottom of the 3rd. C Kevin Bruggeman started the charge with a one-out single, coming in on an RBI triple by Jorge Ruiz to right-center to make it 7-1. Ruiz would come in when the next batter, SS Denzer Guzman, singled to left to plate the second run. Tri-City would be held off the board the remainder of the game, though, with Everett piling on the runs in cruising to a series-opening win.
Reliever Shaddon Peavyhouse (1-0) got the win for the AquaSox, finishing the 5th and navigating some wildness to post a scoreless 6th. Peavyhouse came in for Everett after AquaSox starter Marcelo Perez came out of the game due to an injury, one out shy of being eligible for the win.
Dust Devils 1B Matt Coutney had the lone multi-hit game for Tri-City, going 2-for-4 with a double.
Game two of the series takes place at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday night at Gesa Stadium, where the Dust Devils will look to even the series. Tri-City will give the ball to right-hander Jorge Marcheco (1-1, 4.60 ERA), who comes off his first win of the year in his previous start. Right-hander Michael Morales (1-0, 2.60 ERA) gets the start for Everett on a Western Wednesday night at the ballpark, with fans encouraged to wear Western gear to the game.
Broadcast coverage of Wednesday night’s game will begin with the pregame show at 6:10 p.m, both here and on the MiLB app as well as video coverage on MiLB.tv.
Tickets for Wednesday's game 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.