Bonus Baseball Better to Dust Devils in Win over Canadians

Playing their third extra-inning game in a week and second in less than 24 hours the Tri-City Dust Devils (13-21 2H) turned the tables on the Vancouver Canadians (20-14 2H) Friday afternoon, getting their runner across in the top of the 10^th inning and shutting the door in the bottom for a 6-5 win at Rogers Field at Nat Bailey Stadium.

A game that seesawed back and forth went to extras tied 5-5 with Tri-City CF Joe Redfield starting the top of the inning at second as the automatic runner. 2B Caleb Ketchup grounded out but made sure to send the ball to the right side of the infield, giving Redfield safe passage to third. RF Werner Blakely came up with one out, facing Vancouver reliever Aaron Munson (0-2).

The righty induced a second groundball, hit softly and edging off the third-base side of the mound. Canadians SS Nick Goodwin fielded it and looked to go home, as he did to cut down the Dust Devils’ scoring attempt in the 10^th in Thursday’s 3-2 Vancouver win. This time, though, the grounder was too slow for a play at the plate and Goodwin went to first instead to get Blakely, allowing Redfield to score what ended up the winning run.

Tri-City closer Luke Murphy took care of business in the bottom of the 10^th, punctuating his seventh save in as many tries with a strikeout of Canadians 2B Marcos de la Rosa to end the game. Reliever Roman Phansalkar (1-1) pitched two scoreless innings for the win, rebounding from back-to-back walks to begin the bottom of the 9^th by getting a double play and a groundout to send the game to extras.

Catchers proved the offensive stars for both sides in the contest. Dust Devils C Kevin Bruggeman homered twice to left-center for his first multi-homer game as a pro, first sending a two-run shot over the wall in the 4^th to give his team a 2-1 lead and adding an almost identical solo shot in the 8^th to push the lead to 5-2. His counterpart, Vancouver C Jacob Sharp, drove in all five runs for the Canadians via an RBI single, a bases loaded walk and a game-tying three-run blast to left in the bottom of the 8^th.

Werner Blakely had another successful day at the plate for Tri-City alongside his winning RBI groundout, going 2-for-5 with a double and an RBI triple that scored Redfield and put the Dust Devils back in front 3-2 in the 8^th. The Detroit, Michigan native has had a disciplined eye in the box since returning from injury July 10, drawing 19 walks and striking out only 11 times in accumulating a .478 on-base percentage in his last 17 games.

Starting pitcher Joel Hurtado went five-plus innings for Tri-City, giving up two runs on four hits in a no-decision, and lefty Leonard Garcia threw a scoreless inning in his first outing for the Dust Devils since July 6. At the plate, 1B Sonny DiChiara helped his team out by singling in front of Bruggeman in the 4^th to jog home with his team’s first run of the day. He also sent a sacrifice fly to left in the 8^th, scoring Blakely for his second RBI at the High-A level.

The win for Tri-City evened the series at two games apiece, with game five of the six-game set in Vancouver scheduled for a 7:05 p.m. start Saturday night at Rogers Field at Nat Bailey Stadium. The expected starting pitchers are both debutants, as right-hander Keythel Key makes his 2024 debut for the Dust Devils after making two starts against the Canadians to finish out 2023. Righty Grant Rogers will pitch for the first time at the High-A level for Vancouver.

Broadcast coverage of the game begins with the pregame show at 6:45 p.m. Saturday night, both here and on the MiLB app.

After a 1:05 p.m. Sunday matinee Tri-City will return home to host the Spokane Indians for a six-game set beginning Tuesday, August 6, at Gesa Stadium. Tickets for the Spokane 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.