Tri-City Tops Eugene in Pitcher’s Duel to Even Series

Starter John Swanda gave his team another great start, and the Tri-City Dust Devils (13-15) scratched out enough offense in support for a 2-1 win over the Eugene Emeralds (16-12) Wednesday night at Gesa Stadium, evening the series at a game apiece.

Swanda (3-0) went 6.2 innings, giving up only one run on a 7^th inning solo home run by Eugene LF Jared Dupere. Swanda gave up just four hits, including the homer, and struck out five while walking only two in his third straight win.

Tri-City opened the scoring in the bottom of the 2^nd inning. LF Joe Stewart reached on an error, and 1B Gabe Matthews walked to put two on with no one out. RF Alexander Ramirez then laid down a sacrifice bunt attempt, with the Emeralds attempting unsuccessfully to get the lead runner, Stewart, at third. That loaded the bases, but two groundball force outs at the plate followed.

The bases remained loaded with two out. Eugene starter Seth Lonsway (0-5) then uncorked a wild pitch, scoring Ramirez from third for a 1-0 Dust Devils lead through two innings. Lonsway ended up going four innings, giving up only the one run and striking out six.

The score remained the same all the way to the bottom of the 6^th. There, Matthews and Ramirez put together back-to-back doubles, with Ramirez’s shot down the right field line scoring Matthews from second. Though Ramirez was tagged out trying to stretch his hit to a triple, his hit doubled the Tri-City lead to 2-0.

That cushion ended up necessary, as Dupere’s homer made it again a one-run lead. The Dust Devils bullpen again preserved the lead and finished the ballgame, with Nick Jones stranding a runner in the 7^th and pitching a scoreless 8^th inning. Kelvin Caceres then pitched a scoreless 9^th for his third save, giving up a hit but striking out two, including a called strike three on a breaking ball to end the game.

The two teams breezed through nine innings in 1 hour and 59 minutes, the shortest 9-inning game for both sides. It was also, by a minute, the shortest game played by the Emeralds in 2023, including two 7-inning doubleheader matchups.

The Viñeros de Tri-City make their second appearance of 2023 in game three of the series with Eugene, scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Thursday night at Gesa Stadium. Broadcast coverage will begin with the pregame show at 6:10 p.m. both here and at the MiLB First Pitch app.

A pair of right-handers will take the ball for their teams: Connor Van Scoyoc (1-2, 2.61 ERA) for the Viñeros and Nick Sinacola (0-0, 0.86 ERA) for the Emeralds.

Tickets for both Thursday night's game and the full homestand are on sale, including a Mother’s Day matinee Sunday and next week’s series with Vancouver. 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).