Cortez Consummate Professional in Dust Devils Defeat of Indians
SPOKANE VALLEY – Starter Chris Cortez struck out a career-high nine batters and the Tri-City Dust Devils (9-4 2H, 39-40) used a three-run burst to push past the Spokane Indians (9-4 2H, 38-41) in the opener of a three-game series on an Independence Day Friday night at Avista Stadium. Cortez
SPOKANE VALLEY – Starter Chris Cortez struck out a career-high nine batters and the Tri-City Dust Devils (9-4 2H, 39-40) used a three-run burst to push past the Spokane Indians (9-4 2H, 38-41) in the opener of a three-game series on an Independence Day Friday night at Avista Stadium.
Cortez (3-3) had at least one strikeout in every inning he pitched, including a 5th inning in which he struck out the side. The righty retired the first eight batters he faced and retired the side in order in four of his first five innings of work before giving way to the bullpen in the bottom of the 6th. His teammates got him the lead in the top of the 3rd inning, with 3B Matt Coutney’s two-out RBI single giving Tri-City a 1-0 lead. Spokane answered with a run in the bottom of the 3rd, but the visitors would break the tie with three runs in the 5th inning to get enough to grab the win. 2B Adrian Placencia and CF Anthony Scull singled to start the inning, with 1B Ryan Nicholson laying down a sacrifice bunt to move the runners into scoring position. Coutney then hit a soft grounder to the right side slow enough to score Placencia to take the lead back at 2-1. RF David Calabrese then added a two-out RBI single to plate Scull for a 3-1 advantage and, later in the frame, scored on a wild pitch to shove the lead to 4-1.
Reliever Leonard Garcia gave up a run in the 8th inning but struck out five, and Najer Victor got the last out of the inning to get the game to the 9th with the Dust Devils holding on to a 4-3 lead. As it has been between Tri-City and Spokane in 2025, though, the game’s end came with high drama. Victor issued back-to-back walks with two outs in the 9th, and stolen bases moved the runners into scoring position as the potential tying and game-winning runs. SS Arol Vera then snared a ball hopping up the middle and threw to first for the final out, which gave Victor his second save for the Dust Devils.
DUST DEVILS NOTES
-Three Tri-City hitters (David Calabrese, Matt Coutney and Adrian Placencia) had nine hits in the game, as they did last night, with all nine hits singles. SS Andy Perez of Spokane had the only non-single base hit of the game, a line drive RBI double to right-center in the bottom of the 8th.
-Chris Cortez, Leonard Garcia and Najer Victor combined to strike out 16 Indians batters at the plate, tying the team’s season high. Spokane had been struck out that many times in one other game in 2025, also by the Dust Devils in an April 29 game at Gesa Stadium.
-With the win, Tri-City pulled even in the series with Spokane. Both teams have won eight of the 16 contests played. Seven of the games have been decided by one run.
WIN A GAME, WIN A SERIES
Tri-City and Spokane meet for game two of their shorter three-game series at 7:05 p.m. Saturday night at Avista Stadium. The Dust Devils send right-hander Ryan Johnson (3-3, 2.38 ERA) to the mound, countered by southpaw Michael Prosecky (7-5, 3.79 ERA) of the Indians.
Free audio broadcast coverage of the game, available at dustdevilsbaseball.com and the MiLB app, begins with the Dust Devils Pregame Show at 6:45 p.m.
The teams will play a 1:05 p.m. Sunday afternoon matinee to close out the series. Tri-City then returns home to host the Everett AquaSox, High-A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners, for six games beginning Tuesday, July 8th.
For tickets to all 2025 Dust Devils home games, visit the official ticket site, dustdevilsbaseball.com.