Tri-City Rallies Late, Falls to Spokane

A 3-run 8^th inning rally gave the Tri-City Dust Devils (23-24) the opportunity to bring the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the 9^th, but the Spokane Indians (25-21) got the outs needed to secure a 5-3 win over the Dust Devils Wednesday night at Gesa Stadium.

The runs came on a rally starting with a leadoff double by Tri-City C Myles Emmerson to the gap in right-center field. Three consecutive walks, to LF Joe Stewart, DH Adrian Placencia, and 1B Gabe Matthews brought home Emmerson as the first Dust Devils run of the night. After a pitching change and a pair of strikeouts, RF Alexander Ramirez pulled a double down the left field line to score both Stewart and Placencia and bring the home nine within two runs.

The long inning allowed Emmerson to come up with one out in the 9^th and double again the opposite way, this time deep down the right field line. Stewart and Placencia then got one more at-bat as the potential tying run, but Indians reliever Angel Chivilli got them to pop out and strike out, respectively, to secure his fifth save of the season.

Spokane got the bulk of their runs in a 4-run 3^rd inning. Tri-City starter Caden Dana (0-2) pitched well in the first two innings, allowing only a walk and striking out two, and had a chance to get out of the 3^rd via a one-out grounder to Matthews off the bat of Indians DH Benny Montgomery with runners at first and second. Matthews threw to second to start the double play and Dana went to cover the base. The righty lost his footing trying to find the bag and seemed to get tangled with Montgomery at first, allowing the throw of SS Arol Vera to get by.

Indians 1B A.J. Lewis, who led off the top of the 3^rd with a single, came around to score for a 1-0 lead for the visitors. Dana would throw two more pitches, showing signs of discomfort on both, before leaving the game. Dust Devils reliever Nick Mondak hurriedly warmed up, inheriting a 2-0 count, and issued back-to-back walks to load the bases. Spokane LF Juan Guerrero then doubled down the left field line, emptying the bases and giving the Indians a 4-spot in the frame.

Mondak settled in from there, posting zeroes in the 4^th and 5^th innings. Spokane added a run via a 6^th inning string of three hits in a row, the last by Lewis, to make it 5-0. That was enough run support for Indians right-handed starter Gabriel Hughes (4-3), who threw five scoreless innings and struck out eight Tri-City hitters for the win.

The Dust Devils again had two players with multi-hit games: Ramirez (2-4, 2B, 3B) and Emmerson (2-4, 2 2Bs). 3B Werner Blakely added a single, and on the mound relievers Houston Harding and Nathan Burns combined for three scoreless innings of relief.

The Viñeros de Tri-City will look to rebound in game three of the six-game Inland Northwest rivalry series with Spokane, scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Thursday night at Gesa Stadium. June will open with the yearly Dash for Cash presented by Wildhorse Resort and Casino, with some fans getting a chance to race to collect money in the Gesa Stadium outfield.

Broadcast coverage of the game begins with the pregame show at 6:10 p.m. both here and at the MiLB First Pitch app. Right-hander Cole Percival (0-0, 0.00 ERA) will make his Gesa Stadium debut following a three-inning save last Friday in Hillsboro, and righty Jarrod Cande (3-0, 3.68 ERA) will get the start for the Indians.

Tickets for both Thursday night's game and this weekend’s June 2-4 return of the Columbia River Rooster Tails 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).