Dust Devils Clobber Canadians for Series Split
A Tri-City Dust Devils (14-22 2H) offense shut out for 13 weekend innings erupted for 14 unanswered runs Sunday afternoon, turning another low-scoring ballgame into a 15-3 rout of the Vancouver Canadians (21-15 2H) at Rogers Field at Nat Bailey Stadium that earned the squad a series split. A two-out
A Tri-City Dust Devils (14-22 2H) offense shut out for 13 weekend innings erupted for 14 unanswered runs Sunday afternoon, turning another low-scoring ballgame into a 15-3 rout of the Vancouver Canadians (21-15 2H) at Rogers Field at Nat Bailey Stadium that earned the squad a series split.
A two-out infield single chopped over the mound by Vancouver LF Victor Arias got the hosts on the board with a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the 2nd inning. Tri-City starter Houston Harding (3-2) otherwise held the Canadians off the scoreboard, going five innings and giving up six hits with a pair of strikeouts.
Despite another slow start offensively, Harding left the game with the lead due to the Dust Devils taking advantage of a couple of Vancouver miscues in the top of the 5th. C Alberto Rios drew a leadoff walk, with 2B Mac McCroskey squaring to lay down a sacrifice bunt. McCroskey sent it down the third base line, where Canadians 3B Marcos de la Rosa fielded it and threw to first. The throw skipped low and away from the bag down the right field line, with Rios advancing to third and McCroskey to second.
LF Landon Wallace then came up with two in scoring position, hitting a soft grounder near the mound. Vancouver starter Carson Pierce (2-2) got to it and threw home to try and get Rios sprinting to the plate. His throw went high and to the backstop, and both Rios and McCroskey scored on the play. Wallace was credited with an RBI fielder’s choice for Rios’s run, with McCroskey scoring on the throwing error for a 2-1 lead.
Tri-City put up four more runs in the 6th to build a larger lead. RF Werner Blakely, a mid-game replacement, legged out an infield hit to start things. 1B Sonny DiChiara then came to the plate and lined an opposite-field home run over the high wall in right field for his first homer as a Dust Devil, a two-run blast giving the visitors a 4-1 lead. Wallace then struck again with a two-out, two-run double down the left field line that stretched the Dust Devils advantage to 6-1.
It would be the 7th inning where things joyfully got out of hand for Tri-City, sending 13 batters to the plate and scoring eight runs to turn the game into a blowout. A hit batter and two walks loaded the bases with no one out, and all three runners came in on back-to-back-to-back RBI singles by DH Kevin Bruggeman, 3B Arol Vera and Alberto Rios. Mac McCroskey added a sacrifice fly to put the Dust Devils into double digits at 10-1.
The hits kept coming from there. CF Joe Redfield sent an RBI single to center and, after Blakely drew a bases loaded walk, Sonny DiChiara lined a two-run single to left to finish out the eight-run frame and give Tri-City a 14-1 lead heading to the stretch. DiChiara brought in a fifth RBI with a single in the 9th to complete his team’s 15-run day on the bases, going 3-for-5 on the day himself with two runs scored.
Relievers Nick Mondak, Jake Smith and Dylan Phillips covered the remaining four innings, striking out eight and making sure the Canadians had no notions of a comeback.
The win both gave the Dust Devils their first split in Vancouver in the High-A era and their largest margin of victory in a game since its 18-2 win over Everett on April 24, 2022, at Funko Field.
Tri-City hosts its Inland Northwest rivals, the Spokane Indians, for a six-game series beginning at 7:05 p.m. Tuesday night at Gesa Stadium. It will be Inclusion Night at the ballpark, presented by Columbia Ability Alliance, as well as a Coca-Cola Tuesday with $2.50 21 oz. Coca-Cola products for fans to enjoy throughout the night.
Right-hander Jorge Marcheco (2-5, 5.43 ERA) has been announced as the probable starter for the Dust Devils. The Indians have selected right-hander Victor Juarez (3-5, 5.24 ERA) to take the mound.
Broadcast coverage of the game begins with the pregame show at 6:45 p.m. Tuesday night both here and on the MiLB app, with video coverage on Bally Live and MiLB.tv.
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.