Eugene Edges Tri-City in Ten Innings
The Tri-City Dust Devils (19-37 2H, 53-69) and Eugene Emeralds (30-28 2H, 64-60) dueled in a rollicking, back-and-forth ballgame Friday night, with Eugene walking off with a 10-9 win in extra innings at PK Park. Tri-City fell behind three times in the game and answered either to tie the game
The Tri-City Dust Devils (19-37 2H, 53-69) and Eugene Emeralds (30-28 2H, 64-60) dueled in a rollicking, back-and-forth ballgame Friday night, with Eugene walking off with a 10-9 win in extra innings at PK Park.
Tri-City fell behind three times in the game and answered either to tie the game or take the lead, beginning in the top of the 3rd inning. There, trailing 4-0, DH Gustavo Campero returned with a bang in his first game since August 3 by knocking a grand slam over the wall in right-center to tie the game 4-4. The salami gave Campero his tenth home run of the season and jolted life into the Dust Devils offense.
After Emeralds CF Carter Howell homered to lead off the bottom of the 5th and give Eugene another lead, Tri-City SS Andy Blake tied things up again in the top of the 6th with his first home run at the High-A level, a high-arching shot over the left field wall. The 5-5 tie would turn into a 6-5 Dust Devils lead later in the frame when C Kevin Bruggeman scored from third on a throwing error by Emeralds SS Aeverson Arteaga, giving the visitors their first lead of the night.
Eugene would undo that in the bottom of the 7th, getting a run across on a double play groundball to tie the game 6-6, and then retake the lead again in the 8th on a two-out, two-run double by Arteaga that gave the Emeralds an 8-6 advantage going into the 9th.
The Dust Devils dug in there, loading the bases with one out in the top of the 9th via a walk to 3B Werner Blakely, a Campero hit-by-pitch and an RF Alexander Ramirez infield single. With two out Tri-City found itself down to its final out and kept fighting, with both Bruggeman and LF Casey Dana drawing back-to-back bases loaded walks to tie the game at 8-8. Dust Devils reliever Ben Thompson (0-1) struck out the side in the bottom of the 9th to push a second game this week to extra innings.
The top of the 10th saw Tri-City take the lead once more. With 2B Will McGillis in as the automatic runner in extra innings, 1B Cam Williams sent a high fly ball deep the opposite way off Eugene reliever William Kempner (3-0) to left field that landed fair for a double and scored McGillis for a 9-8 lead. The Dust Devils were three outs away from a second straight victory.
It was not to be, though, with a sacrifice fly and a Howell fly ball over a drawn-in outfield to seal the win for the Emeralds.
Three players had multi-hit nights for Tri-City: Andy Blake (2-5, HR), Gustavo Campero (2-5, GS, 2B, 4 RBI), and CF Joe Stewart (2-6, R). Dust Devils pitching struck out 13 batters but struggled to throw strikes at times, walking eight and hitting three batters during the night.
Game five of six between Tri-City and Eugene is lined up for a 7:05 p.m. start Saturday night at PK Park. In an adjustment to the rotation due to multiple personnel moves announced Friday afternoon, left-hander C.J. Mayhue (0-0, 6.23 ERA) has been announced as the probable starter for the Dust Devils. A fellow lefty, Hayden Wynja (3-3, 3.82 ERA), will go for the Ems.
Broadcast coverage begins with the pregame show at 6:45 p.m., both here and at the MiLB First Pitch app.
The Dust Devils will return home to Gesa Stadium for their final home series of the season Tuesday, September 5 against Vancouver. Tickets for the Canadians 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 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).