Stewart’s Speed Sends Tri-City to Walk-Off Win

The top two pitching staffs of the Northwest League produced yet another tight ballgame between the Tri-City Dust Devils (22-38 2H, 56-70) and the Vancouver Canadians (37-25 2H, 75-52) Wednesday night, with LF Joe Stewart’s walk-off RBI single the difference in a ten-inning, 3-2 Tri-City victory at Gesa Stadium.

Stewart came up with two out and CF Joe Redfield, the automatic runner, at third base after 3B Werner Blakely beat a double play attempt to reach via fielder’s choice and keep the inning going. Vancouver reliever Justin Kelly (5-2), attempting to push the game to the 11^th, put Stewart behind in a 1-2 count. The Portage, Michigan native chopped a ball softly to the left side, where Canadians 3B Ryan McCarty hurried to get the ball and throw to first. Stewart beat it by a step to score Redfield and win the ballgame for the Dust Devils.

The opportunity to win arose after Tri-City held Vancouver off the board in the top of the 10^th inning. SS Estiven Machado, the automatic runner for the Canadians, attempted to get to third on a pitch momentarily getting away from Dust Devils C Myles Emmerson. Emmerson grabbed the ball and threw to third, Blakely catching the throw. Machado attempted to go back to second but Blakely ran him down, applying the tag for the out. Though McCarty would draw a walk later in the at-bat, Tri-City reliever Ben Thompson (1-1) induced a 6-3 double play ball to SS Caleb Ketchup to finish the frame.

Vancouver held the lead for most of the ballgame, scoring two unearned runs off starter Chase Chaney in the top of the 1^st inning. Chaney, as he had several times before, rallied to keep his opponents off the scoreboard for the remainder of the game, going six innings for his ninth quality start of the 2023 season. Canadians starter Devereaux Harrison, meanwhile, kept the Dust Devils at bay for the first four innings.

Tri-City trailed 2-0 in the bottom of the 5^th, but not for long. 1B Cam Williams faced Harrison and hit a ball deep to right that fell over the fence for a solo home run to open the inning. Williams’s third longball as a Dust Devil cut the Vancouver lead to 2-1. The home nine then amassed a major threat in the bottom of the 7^th, loading the bases to get the potential tying and go-ahead runs aboard. The threat would end on a strikeout, though, with Tri-City running out of outs.

The game remained at 2-1 Vancouver to one out in the bottom of the 8^th, when DH Gustavo Campero came up. The switch-hitting Colombian launched a mammoth shot to deep right, tying the ballgame at 2-2 and giving no-decisions to both Chaney and Harrison. Campero’s 12^th homer of 2023 was his third home run in four games and set the table for extra innings.

The Dust Devils attack got nine hits on the night, with three players (Caleb Ketchup, Alexander Ramirez and Joe Stewart) putting together multi-hit games. On the mound, Julian Smith and Ben Thompson combined for four innings of scoreless relief out of the bullpen, striking out five Canadians between themselves.

The six-game series between Tri-City and Vancouver stands even at a game apiece. Game three has been set for a 6:30 p.m. first pitch at Gesa Stadium, on a Back to School Night presented by Gesa Credit Union. The Dust Devils have listed left-hander Nick Horvath (0-2, 5.94 ERA) as their projected starter, and the Canadians expect to send righty Kevin Miranda (2-4, 4.42 ERA) to the hill.

Broadcast coverage will begin with the pregame show at 6:10 p.m., both here and at the MiLB First Pitch app.

Tickets for Thursday's tilt and the full series, including two fireworks nights to close out the season Saturday and Sunday, are on sale now with special ticket rates 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).