Sweet Seventeen: Dust Devils Demolish Spokane

A dam holding back the offense of the Tri-City Dust Devils (2-13 2H) burst open Saturday evening, with the visitors setting season-highs in runs, hits and home runs in a 17-6 thrashing of the Spokane Indians (11-4 2H) at Avista Stadium.

Tri-City’s onslaught began in the top of the 1^st inning when 1B Matt Coutney launched a solo shot off a pitch from Spokane starter Mason Green (6-5) over the far wall left of straightaway center field for a 1-0 lead. The Canadian lefty’s seventh home run of the year ended up a preview of what was to come.

After Indians CF and leadoff man Cole Carrigg answered Coutney’s riposte with a homer of his own in the bottom of the 1^st to tie the game, the Dust Devils put up five runs in the 2^nd innings to retake the lead and shove it out to 6-1. Two longballs did the damage beginning with 3B Andy Blake’s second High-A homer of the season, a three-run blast to left that made it a 4-1 game. Then LF Caleb Ketchup socked a two-run shot the same way, with his fifth home run of 2024 giving his team a five-run edge.

Though they drove Green out of the game after two innings, Tri-City was not any easier on those who followed him from the pen. First to the mound came Indians reliever Sergio Sanchez to take on the top of the 3^rd. 2B Will McGillis greeted him with a two-run blast to left, his second home run in as many games, and CF Joe Redfield pulled an RBI double to left-center later in the inning to stretch the lead to 9-1.

After an inning it was Davis Palermo’s turn to face the Dust Devils, and SS Chad Stevens’s turn to go deep. He went the opposite way to right with Coutney aboard for a two-run homer, Tri-City’s fifth longball in four innings, giving them an 11-1 advantage.

Spokane 3B Kyle Karros went yard in the bottom of the 4^th, the only run given up by Dust Devils hurler Leonard Garcia (4-2) in his two innings of relief. Ryan Langford, making a spot start due to scheduled starter Jorge Marcheco’s unavailability, went three solid innings and gave up only the Carrigg homer and a total of three hits.

The run tally continued to grow for the visitors in the 5^th via a Ketchup RBI double that pushed the lead to 12-2. Three more runs went on the board in the 6^th, starting with an RBI double by DH Cam Williams, who scored on a balk later in the inning. RF Landon Wallace then got in on the fun with an RBI double to right-center, and Tri-City led 15-2 going to the bottom of the 6^th.

The Indians’ fearsome lineup continued to drive balls over the fence, matching the Dust Devils’ quintet with five of their own and making it so both teams matched the Northwest League season-high for home runs in a game by one team. Most of the Spokane shots came as solo home runs, though, not giving the home side a chance to get back into the contest.

A pair of RBI groundouts in the 8^th and 9^th by Wallace and Williams, respectively, closed out the 17-run season high for the crew from Pasco, Kennewick and Richland. Tri-City scored in eight of the team’s nine innings at the plate, putting together their most prolific offensive game a night after the team broke an over 35-inning scoreless streak.

Four players had three-hit games for the Dust Devils, with Coutney, Ketchup and Stevens finishing 3-for-6 and each finishing a triple shy of the cycle. Wallace went 3-for-5 out of the 9-spot in the lineup and Redfield added a multi-hit game by going 2-for-6.

On the mound, relievers Carlos Espinosa and Luke Murphy took the game to its close by combining to throw 2.1 scoreless innings to seal the deal.

The Dust Devils, with all of the minor leagues, enjoy a two-day break following Saturday's action. Following that they head to Hillsboro for a road series with the Hops beginning Tuesday, July 9, and leading up to the All-Star Break.

Play-by-play man Chris Clayton, voice of University of Oregon women’s basketball, tags in and will have the action from Hillsboro Ballpark both here and on the MiLB app, with 7:05 p.m. first pitches Tuesday-Saturday and a 1:05 p.m. Sunday matinee.

Tri-City then returns post-break with a three-game set against the Eugene Emeralds at Gesa Stadium starting Friday night, July 19^th. Tickets for the Eugene 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.