Vancouver Vexes Tri-City Again
Both starter Houston Harding and the bullpen offered strong performances on the mound for the Tri-City Dust Devils (11-20 2H) Tuesday night, but the Vancouver Canadians (19-12 2H) cooled off bats on a muggy night to take a 2-0 win in the series opener of a six-game start Tuesday night
Both starter Houston Harding and the bullpen offered strong performances on the mound for the Tri-City Dust Devils (11-20 2H) Tuesday night, but the Vancouver Canadians (19-12 2H) cooled off bats on a muggy night to take a 2-0 win in the series opener of a six-game start Tuesday night at Rogers Field at Nat Bailey Stadium.
Tri-City matched Vancouver with five hits on the night and threatened early via a pair of walks drawn by CF Caleb Ketchup and RF Werner Blakely in the top of the 1st. Canadians starter Pat Gallagher (5-6) had to throw 27 pitches to get out of the inning unscathed but did so, allowing only three baserunners after that in his five-inning start with eight strikeouts.
Harding (2-2) matched Gallagher with zeroes on the board in the first four innings and let only two Vancouver batters aboard, both of whom were stranded at first base, during those frames. That changed when Canadians catcher Jacob Sharp, one of the newest members of the team, announced his presence in the Northwest League in the bottom of the 5th by socking a pitch over the left field wall for a solo home run. His first hit, let alone home run, at the High-A level gave Vancouver a 1-0 lead.
That ended up the only run given up by Harding, who went 5.1 innings and struck out three while allowing only three hits in a tough-luck loss.
A big insurance run for the Canadians came in the bottom of the 8th inning. CF Dasan Brown lined a shot down the left field line, running for second. LF Landon Wallace put in a strong throw that beat Brown to the bag, but the outfielder was ruled to have avoided the tag of Dust Devils 2B Mac McCroskey for a one-out double. Brown later advanced to third on a groundout and came home on a passed ball to score the second and final run of the night.
The offense for the Dust Devils had a difficult time trying to get the game back even after Gallagher finished his start, with reliever Alex Amalfi throwing three shutout innings and allowing just one hit in his time on the mound. Right-hander Chay Yeager then worked the 9th inning for his second save and a win that moved Vancouver to 15-3 against Tri-City in 2024.
Returning to the Dust Devils for the first time since May 2, DH Alberto Rios put together a good game at the plate with a 2-for-3 night and a stolen base. Mac McCroskey singled with two outs in the 9th to extend the game in his Tri-City debut and, though not getting hits, both Werner Blakely (14 games) and Caleb Ketchup (13 games) both extended on-base streaks by getting on.
Game two of the series takes place at 7:05 p.m. Wednesday night at Rogers Field at Nat Bailey Stadium, where the Dust Devils will send right-hander Chris Clark (2-10, 5.82 ERA) to the hill for the start. The Canadians will counter with righty Juaron Watts-Brown (0-2, 6.43 ERA), who makes his fourth start for the home nine in 2024.
Broadcast coverage of the game begins with the pregame show at 6:45 p.m. Wednesday night both here and on the MiLB app.
Tri-City will return from Vancouver to host the Spokane Indians for a six-game set beginning Tuesday, August 6, at Gesa Stadium. 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.