7-Run 8th Propels Dust Devils to Victory in Eugene

The Tri-City Dust Devils (19-19) broke open a close game Wednesday night at PK Park, scoring seven runs in the 8th inning on the way to a 10-1 victory over the Eugene Emeralds (18-18).

The scoring burst, assisted by three Emeralds errors in the 8th, helped get the Dust Devils back to .500 and end a four-game losing streak.

Eugene started the scoring in the bottom of the 1st with a Marco Luciano solo home run off Nick Mondak (2-2) for a 1-0 lead. That was all Mondak would give up, though, only giving up two more hits and striking out five over six innings of work for the win.

Tri-City would both get on the board and take the lead in the 5th inning. Straton Podaras reached on an error by Eugene reliever Abel Adames (2-2), and then moved to third after a throwing error on his steal of second. Mike Peabody doubled him home to tie the game, and then came around on a Jordyn Adams RBI single for a 2-1 Dust Devils lead.

Both Peabody and Adams, who left the game in the 5th due to an unspecified injury, had two hits for Tri-City, who had nine hits on the night.

Gabe Matthews added a run in the 6th with a solo home run to left field, making it 3-1 Dust Devils. Matthews’ homer was his fourth of the season, and his second in as many nights at his collegiate home field.

Also, outfielder D’Shawn Knowles made his debut at the High-A level for Tri-City tonight, starting in right field and shifting over to center field in place of Adams in the 5th. The switch-hitting Bahamian went 0-4 with a walk, reaching base twice and scoring once.

As well, relievers Kyle Molnar, Greg Veliz and Emilker Guzman all pitched a scoreless inning of relief, helping the Dust Devils keep the Emeralds off the scoreboard for the final eight innings.

Game three of the six-game series between Tri-City and Eugene takes place Thursday night at 7:35 p.m. at PK Park. Both teams will send a right-hander to the mound to start, with Landon Marceaux going for the Dust Devils and Ryan Murphy getting the nod for the Emeralds.

You can listen to the game at both dustdevilsbaseball.com and the MiLB First Pitch app, with the King Beverage Budweiser Pregame Show starting at 7:20 p.m.

Tri-City returns home to Gesa Stadium Tuesday, May 31 to start a six-game set with the Hillsboro Hops. It’s a Coca-Cola Tuesday, with 21 oz. Coca-Cola products available for $2.

Single-game tickets for the Hops series and all games are on sale now. Ticket packages are also available, and start at just $99. And special ticket rates are 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 or call 509-544-8789.