Columbia River Revs Engines, Sprints Past Spokane

Early runs and stout starting pitching proved a solid start for the Tri-City Dust Devils (25-24) Friday night, and a 6-run 7^th pushed them to an 11-3 win over the Spokane Indians (25-23) in front of 2,455 at Gesa Stadium.

Tri-City, taking on their popular Columbia River Rooster Tails alternate identity for the first time in 2023, scored their first time up and held the lead the entire night. DH Joe Stewart led off the bottom of the 1^st inning with a double to right-center and 1B Gabe Matthews brought him home with an RBI single the same direction for a 1-0 lead.

Dust Devils starter Chase Chaney (4-1) took care of things on his end, posting zeroes in his first four innings and giving up only two hits, a hit batter, and a walk along the way. The righty gave up a single run in both the 5^th and 6^th innings but gave his team another quality start in earning both his second straight win and his third win against Spokane in 2023.

Chaney would get more run support throughout the night, beginning in the bottom of the 3^rd inning. Matthews singled with one out and SS Arol Vera followed with a double behind off of Indians starter Jaden Hill (0-4), putting two runners in scoring position. LF Alexander Ramirez then delivered a double to left center, scoring both Matthews and Vera to propel the Tri-City lead to 3-0 through three innings.

When Spokane scored in the 5^th, the Dust Devils answered back with two more in the bottom of the inning. Vera and 3B Werner Blakely drew walks to put two on with no one out. Ramirez executed a sac bunt to move both runners into scoring position with one out. RF Osmy Gregorio then grounded a ball to second softly enough for Vera to score to make it 4-1. CF D’Shawn Knowles then plated Blakely with a two-out double down the left field line for a 5-1 lead after five innings.

The visitors would make the game interesting, though, loading the bases with two outs in the top of the 7^th inning and bringing the potential go-ahead run to the plate in the person of one of the top hitters in the Northwest League, Indians RF Yanquiel Fernandez. Tri-City would bring on reliever Emilker Guzman, who induced a grounder to second. 2B Adrian Placencia’s throw ended up low, but Matthews picked it out of the dirt to get the out and end the threat.

The Dust Devils would open the floodgates in the bottom of the 7^th, sending all nine men to the plate. Ramirez led off with a single, with a Gregorio groundout moving him to second. C Myles Emmerson then put another run on the board with an RBI single to left for a 6-2 advantage. Knowles singled to get on, and Placencia came up with two out and singled to center to stretch the lead further, to 7-2.

Matthews kept things moving with his second RBI single of the night, this time to right field, scoring Knowles to make it 8-2. Vera then got a chance with two on and hit a high fly ball down the right field line flying over the foul pole for a three-run home run and an 11-2 lead. Spokane argued the call in the belief that the ball turned before the pole and should be a foul ball. The umpires discussed the play, but the call giving Vera his third homer of 2023 stood. More arguing ensued, with Indians bench coach Joe Mikulik getting ejected during the prolonged argument.

Spokane added an 8^th inning run, but Tri-City got the outs they needed to wrap up a second straight win that evened both this week’s series (two games apiece) and the season series (five wins each). The victory also moved the Dust Devils back within 1.5 games of first place in the Northwest League’s First Half race.

Tri-City will again take the field as the Rooster Tails in game five of their six-game set with the Indians at 6:30 p.m. Saturday night at Gesa Stadium. Postgame fireworks, presented by the CBC Foundation, will light up the night sky to close out the night.

Left-hander Sammy Natera, Jr. (1-2, 3.46 ERA) will get the start for the Rooster Tails, and Spokane will give the ball to righty Victor Juarez (3-2, 5.10 ERA). Broadcast coverage of the game begins with the pregame show at 6:10 p.m. both here and at the MiLB First Pitch app.

Tickets for both Saturday's game and Sunday’s 1:30 p.m. Rooster Tails matinee are on sale now. Also, 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, 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).