Magnificent Seven-Run First Takes Tri-City to Blowout of Spokane

Both the Tri-City Dust Devils (16-23 2H) and the Spokane Indians (26-13 2H) had identical golden opportunities to score in their first at-bats Thursday night, and the home nine cashed in their chance with seven runs on the way to a 13-2 rout of their visitors in front of 2,077 at Gesa Stadium.

The respective starting pitchers, Tri-City’s Ryan Costeiu (1-3) and Spokane’s Michael Prosecky (1-1), both found their way into bases loaded jams with one out in the 1^st inning. On the top side the Indians got them loaded via a double by SS Dyan Jorge, a walk to 3B Charlie Condon and DH Kyle Karros getting hit by a pitch. Costeiu would navigate the choppy waters, though, by striking out both C Bryant Betancourt and 1B Jose Cordova to post a scoreless frame.

Prosecky would not be so lucky in his Gesa Stadium debut. LF Caleb Ketchup welcomed him to down by doubling to the gap in right-center to lead off the bottom of the 1^st. CF Joe Redfield laid down a sacrifice bunt to get Ketchup to third, and both SS Adrian Placencia and 1B Sonny DiChiara were hit by pitches to load the bases.

That brought C Juan Flores to the plate, who lined a single to left center to score both Ketchup and Placencia for a 2-0 Dust Devils lead. DH Kevin Bruggeman then laced a double down the left field line to pick up DiChiara and push the lead to 3-0. RF Jadiel Sanchez stepped in with runners at second and third and grounded a ball to Jorge, who threw home to try to get Flores. His throw went wide and to the backstop, a throwing error that not only allowed Flores to score but also a sprinting Bruggeman behind him to make it 5-0 to Tri-City.

A second error on a grounder off the bat of Vera extended the inning, putting runners on the corners for Caleb Ketchup’s second at-bat of the frame. He seized the opportunity by sending a triple to left-center to score both Sanchez and Vera for the Dust Devils’ seven-spot and knock Prosecky out of the game before he could finish the 1^st inning.

Costeiu helped make the lead stick by allowing only one run on one hit for the rest of his five innings of work, striking out five in earning his first win of the season. The run came in the top of the 3^rd when Dyan Jorge brought home CF Cole Carrigg, who had tripled to lead off the inning.

Tri-City had put on an eighth run before that on a bloop RBI single by Kevin Bruggeman in the bottom of the 2^nd that scored Sonny DiChiara to make it 8-0 at the time. The Dust Devils then continued their big night at the plate in the bottom of the 5^th with three more runs to get into double digits. Adrian Placencia singled to lead things off and DiChiara followed with a single of his own before Juan Flores’s walk loaded the bases with no one out. Bruggeman and 2B Shane Matheny struck sacrifice flies with Jadiel Sanchez getting an RBI single down in between to extend the advantage to 11-1 through five innings of play.

Joe Redfield got in on the fun with an RBI single in the 6^th that scored Caleb Ketchup after his leadoff double and third extra-base hit of the night. Bruggeman then capped his four RBI night by legging out an infield hit that scored Redfield and brought his team’s run total to a baker’s dozen at 13-1. Spokane’s Skyler Messinger hit a solo home run over the wall in left-center in the 8^th to put the last run of the game on the board for the Indians.

Offensively, Tri-City saw eight of its nine starters score at least once, with Adrian Placencia scoring thrice and three others (DiChiara, Flores, Ketchup) scoring twice. The team also racked up 15 hits, getting three hit games from Bruggeman, DiChiara and Ketchup and a two-hit game from Placencia. On the mound, Dust Devils reliever Carlos Espinosa threw two scoreless innings to celebrate his 23^rd birthday and lefty Dylan Phillips pitched a perfect 9^th to finish the proceedings.

The two teams square off in game four of their six-game series at 7:05 p.m. Friday night at Gesa Stadium, where it will be a Family Feast Night presented by Tri-Cities Airport. Hot dogs, 12 oz. Coca-Cola products, ice cream sandwiches, chips and Laffy Taffy ropes can be had for $2 all throughout the night.

Right-hander Joel Hurtado (7-6, 4.72 ERA) will head to the mound for the Dust Devils, while the Indians will give the ball to righty Connor Staine (4-5, 5.06 ERA). Broadcast coverage of the game begins with the pregame show at 6:45 p.m. Friday night both here and on the MiLB app, with video coverage on Bally Live and MiLB.tv.

Tickets for the Spokane series, including Tri-City’s turn as the Malmo Oat Milkers on Sunday, August 11^th, 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.