Small Ball Big, Bullpen Bigger in Dust Devils’ 12-Inning Win

Kenyon Yovan drove in Mike Peabody with a sacrifice fly to right, and Zac Kristofak threw two scoreless innings in extras to propel the Tri-City Dust Devils (18-15) to a 7-6 win over the Vancouver Canadians (15-17) in 12 innings Thursday night at Nat Bailey Stadium.

Kristofak (1-0) had to work around the runner at second base to begin both innings, keeping the game alive in the 11th and ending it in the 12th. The righty reliever struck out four, including the final three batters he faced in the 12th for his first win of 2022.

Yovan’s sacrifice fly came off original right fielder Mack Mueller (0-1), who pitched the last two innings for the Canadians, and followed a Jordyn Adams sacrifice bunt to move Peabody to third base. It was Mueller’s professional pitching debut, having pitched an inning collegiately for the Rice Owls in 2017. It also broke a 6-6 tie that had held since the 6th inning.

Earlier in the night, Tri-City had held leads at three different moments in the game. Osmy Gregorio scored after reaching on errors in his first two at-bats, on a sacrifice fly by Gabe Matthews in the 1st and an RBI single by Adams in the 3rd. Adams went 2 for 5, the lone Dust Devil with multiple hits on the night.

Vancouver came back in both the 1st and 3rd innings with solo home runs, and then took and extended the lead with runs in the 4th and 5th.

Tri-City then responded in the 6th with four runs, matching their 6th inning from Wednesday night. First, Matthews hit a solo home run to left, his second round-tripper of the year cutting the Canadians’ lead to 4-3. Later Yovan would score on a bases loaded balk to tie the game at 4-4, with a two-run double by Jose Guzman giving the Dust Devils a 6-4 lead.

After Vancouver came back with two to tie the game in the 6th, the Tri-City bullpen would throw six scoreless frames to maintain the tie and grab the win late. Houston Harding and newcomer Hayden Seig each threw two scoreless innings before Kristofak’s outing, and returner Greg Veliz stranded the go-ahead run at third to end the 6th.

The win moved the Dust Devils into a first-place tie with the Eugene Emeralds atop the Northwest League standings and gave Tri-City a two-games-to-one series lead. Game four between the Dust Devils and Vancouver takes place at 1:05 p.m. Friday afternoon, with Robinson Piña getting the start for Tri-City.

The Dust Devils return 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.