Largest Crowd of Season Sees Tri-City Go Back-to-Back for Third Straight Win

A night after the home nine put on a bunting masterclass in a walk-off win, the Tri-City Dust Devils (15-15) played a late game of longball to come back from a 4-0 deficit and down the Eugene Emeralds (16-14) Friday night by a score of 6-5 at Gesa Stadium.

Back-to-back 8^th inning home runs by SS Arol Vera and 1B Gabe Matthews, off Emeralds reliever Wilkelma Castillo (0-1), gave the Dust Devils both their first lead of the night and the insurance run they would need in the 9^th inning. Vera’s homer, pulled over the right field wall, took Tri-City from 4-3 down to up 5-4. Matthews’s shot, to the right-center power alley, disappeared into the night for his second homer in as many games. It also handed his side a 6-4 lead going to the 9^th.

Jake Smith (1-0) pitched a scoreless 8^th to keep Eugene within arm’s length, his fourth such outing in his last five appearances. The Emeralds rallied for a run in the 9^th off closer Kelvin Caceres, but the righty recovered with back-to-back strikeouts and induced a groundout to end the game and get his fourth save in as many attempts.

Vera and Matthews combined to drive in all six Dust Devil runs, first getting their team back in the game in the 6^th inning. Vera mashed a two-run triple to the wall in right-center, scoring CF Joe Stewart and DH Adrian Placencia and getting Tri-City on the board at 4-2. Matthews then hit a slow grounder to the left side, giving Vera enough time to score to make it a 4-3 game.

Previous to the middle innings, starting pitching dominated the game. Dust Devils righty Caden Dana retired the first 12 batters he saw, while Emeralds lefty Carson Whisenhunt went through the Tri-City order once perfectly. Both pitched well but received no-decisions, with Dana giving up three runs in 5.2 innings and striking out eight. Whisenhunt struck out seven in five innings, giving up only a 4^th inning walk to Placencia and a two-out double to RF D’Shawn Knowles in the 5^th.

Eugene staked their lead in the 5^th and 6^th innings, scoring twice in both frames. The first run of the game came in on a topspin grounder by Emeralds C Adrian Sugastey which bounced up off the infield and struck Dust Devils 3B Casey Dana above the shoulders, sending him to the ground. The ball rolled into foul territory on the third base side giving Eugene DH Victor Bericoto, who had doubled to end Caden Dana’s early run of perfection, time to score. Casey Dana came out of the game following the play, replaced by Werner Blakely.

Emeralds 1B Logan Wyatt, who walked after Bericoto’s double, moved from first to third on the same play. 3B Jimmy Glowenke then came up, lining a ball to right field far enough for Wyatt to score for a 2-0 Eugene lead. Wyatt came back up the next inning with a man on, greeting Tri-City reliever Nathan Burns by taking his first pitch of the night out to right for a two-run homer and a 4-0 advantage. Burns, though, would recover as well, working around trouble in the 7^th to keep his team within range to complete the comeback.

The Dust Devils then assembled their late charge, grabbing their third straight one-run win and their second straight comeback win. The victory also moved Tri-City back to .500 on the season for the first time since the team was 1-1 through its first two games.

As well, 3,060 fans, many of whom came for School Night presented by Pahlisch Homes, saw the win, comprising the largest crowd through the gates of Gesa Stadium so far in 2023.

The Dust Devils will try to extend their three-game winning streak and clinch a series win in game five of their series with the Emeralds at 6:30 p.m. Saturday night at Gesa Stadium. Fans at the park will enjoy postgame fireworks, presented by Columbia Basin Hearing Center.

Right-hander Bryce Osmond (1-3, 3.66 ERA) is scheduled to start for Tri-City, with righty Carson Ragsdale (0-1, 2.92 ERA) going for Eugene. Broadcast coverage will begin with the pregame show at 6:10 p.m. both here and at the MiLB First Pitch app.

Tickets for this weekend's games, including a Mother’s Day matinee Sunday, and next week’s series with Vancouver 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).