Eugene Levies Victory from Tri-City
Quieting one of the top offenses in the Northwest League for a third straight night ended up too tall a task for the Tri-City Dust Devils (11-18) Thursday night, as the Eugene Emeralds (19-10) put up two big innings early on the way to a 9-3 win at PK Park.
Quieting one of the top offenses in the Northwest League for a third straight night ended up too tall a task for the Tri-City Dust Devils (11-18) Thursday night, as the Eugene Emeralds (19-10) put up two big innings early on the way to a 9-3 win at PK Park.
A Eugene offense held to a single run in each of its first two games plated seven runs between the 2nd and 3rd innings to build a big lead, driving Tri-City starter Chris Clark (0-3) out of the game after just 2.2 innings of work. Despite being the second-best slugging team in the NWL the Emeralds had just one extra-base hit on the night, taking advantage of walks and hit batters with softly struck but well-placed singles.
The Dust Devils hung in early, absorbing the first punch from the home side and answering with a pair of runs in the top of the 3rd. CF Jorge Ruiz led off the inning with a single up the middle and 2B Ben Gobbel walked behind him, putting two on with no one out. 3B Matt Coutney laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Ruiz to third and Gobbel to second, and Ruiz scored on a RF Jadiel Sanchez RBI groundout to get Tri-City on the board at 3-1.
1B Cam Williams followed with a groundball to Eugene SS Justin Bench, whose low throw skipped into the home dugout. Gobbel scored from second on the miscue, bringing the Dust Devils within a run at 3-2. From there, the visitors would give themselves chances to score throughout the night, including scoring on a double play ball in the top of the 4th, but the Emeralds diffused chances of a comeback by turning a total of four double plays in the game.
Eugene pitcher Dylan Cumming (2-0) got the win, following Emeralds starter Seth Lonsway’s four innings with 4.2 scoreless frames and striking out eight. Cumming gave up three hits and walked two but induced two double plays to keep Tri-City from scoring the rest of the way.
Three players for the Dust Devils had multi-hit nights: SS Shane Matheny (2-4), C Kevin Bruggeman (2-3) and CF Jorge Ruiz (2-3, 2B, BB). Also, relievers Ryan Langford, Quinton Martinez and Jake Smith combined for 4.1 innings of scoreless, no-hit relief out of the pen.
Tri-City, still leading the series two games to one, will look to bounce back in game four of their series with Eugene, set for 7:05 p.m. Friday night at PK Park. Left-hander Erik Rivera (0-1, 5.17 ERA) gets the start for the Dust Devils, with right-hander Nick Sinacola (3-1, 2.25 ERA) going to the mound for the Emeralds.
Broadcast coverage of the game begins with the pregame show at 6:45 p.m, both here and on the MiLB app.
Tri-City returns home to Gesa Stadium for a six-game series with the Hillsboro Hops beginning next Tuesday, May 14. Tickets for the Hillsboro series 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 the team’s official ticketing site, dustdevilsbaseball.com.