Dust Devils Hopped Past by AquaSox

Runs came at a premium for both the Tri-City Dust Devils (7-13) and the Everett AquaSox (7-13) Saturday night, with a couple of poorly timed mistakes hurting the home side in a 2-1 loss to Everett at Gesa Stadium.

Both teams again offered strong pitching performances, with AquaSox starter Ryan Hawks striking out six in five no-hit innings and leading Everett hurlers in holding Tri-City hitless into the 7^th inning. The Dust Devils largely held the visitors in check, with starter Erik Rivera allowing only an unearned run in his four innings of work.

That unearned run, though, gifted the AquaSox a 1-0 lead in the top of the 4^th inning. Rivera only walked two, but the free passes came back-to-back with two outs in the inning. SS Axel Sanchez then hit a high-hopping grounder to his counterpart, Tri-City SS Caleb Ketchup, whose throw came in high and wide enough to deflect off the glove of Dust Devils 1B Mason Martin and toward the first base dugout. DH Ben Williamson, who received the first base on balls, scored from second on the play for the opening run of the game.

Tri-City kept close, getting out of trouble in the 6^th and 7^th innings to keep it a 1-0 game. They would find a run in the bottom of the 7^th to tie the game after 3B Matt Coutney lined a double to left-center off of Everett reliever Nick Davila (2-2) that broke up the AquaSox’s combined no-hitter bid. Coutney then moved to third on a groundout and, from there, took advantage of an Everett miscue by scoring on a passed ball to tie the game at 1-1.

A second Dust Devils mistake would end up coming back to bite in the top of the 8^th, following a double to left-center by AquaSox RF R.J. Schreck. Tri-City reliever Willian Suarez (0-1) threw a slider in the dirt that got past C Alberto Rios for a wild pitch. Schreck moved to third and then scored on an RBI groundout by Axel Sanchez to provide what ended up the winning run. Closer Troy Taylor struck out the Dust Devils’ side in the 9^th for his third save, giving the Frogs at least a series split.

Tri-City will look to secure their half of a split in the series finale at 1:30 p.m. Sunday afternoon at Gesa Stadium. Before the game the first Youth Baseball Clinic of 2024, presented by Dutch Bros, will take place, with local young ballplayers learning from both Dust Devils coaches and players.

Right-hander Joel Hurtado (0-2, 5.29 ERA) will look to bounce back from a tough outing last Tuesday in his second start of the week. Another righty, Jimmy Kingsbury (0-0, 0.00 ERA), will get the ball for Everett.

Broadcast coverage of the contest will begin with the pregame show at 1:10 p.m, both here and on the MiLB app as well as video coverage on MiLB.tv.

Tickets for both Sunday's matinee and next week’s series against the Vancouver Canadians 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.