Victory in Vancouver: Dust Devils Down Canadians to Open Series
A late dose of small ball proved the cure for the north-of-the-border ails of the Tri-City Dust Devils (22-23), helping the visitors to a 6-5 series-opening win over the Vancouver Canadians (19-23) Wednesday night at Rogers Field at Nat Bailey Stadium. The winning run for Tri-City came without a hit
A late dose of small ball proved the cure for the north-of-the-border ails of the Tri-City Dust Devils (22-23), helping the visitors to a 6-5 series-opening win over the Vancouver Canadians (19-23) Wednesday night at Rogers Field at Nat Bailey Stadium.
The winning run for Tri-City came without a hit in the top of the 8th inning. SS Andy Blake drew a leadoff walk to get aboard, bringing up LF Jorge Ruiz. The lefty laid down a soft sacrifice bunt to the left side of the mound, drawing both Vancouver 3B Ryan McCarty and reliever Grayson Thurman (2-2) to the ball. Blake, noticing no one was covering third, kept running and made it safely to get within 90 feet of home.
CF Werner Blakely then came to the plate and watched a breaking ball in a 1-1 count bounce off Canadians C Jackson Hornung and toward the third base side of foul territory, giving Blake enough time on the wild pitch to sprint home for what ended up the game-winning tally.
Previous to the 8th the game had swung back-and-forth in the middle innings after the Dust Devils opened the scoring in the top of the 3rd. DH Mason Martin was hit by a pitch thrown by Vancouver starter Pat Gallagher and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Ruiz drew a one-out walk to bring up Blakely, who lined a ball through the right side for an RBI single that scored Martin for a 1-0 lead.
Two innings later Ruiz would get things started by stinging a grounder the opposite way, placing it perfectly inside the third base bag and down the line for a leadoff double. The hit, which ended an 0-for-34 drought for Ruiz, put him in scoring position. A Blakely groundout moved Ruiz to third, from which he would score on a 2B Caleb Ketchup RBI single to left through a drawn-in infield for a 2-0 edge.
The top of the 5th continued with a lined double by RF Jadiel Sanchez that glanced off the glove of Canadians 1B Jamari Baylor and down the right field line, moving Ketchup to third and putting him in position to score on a Gallagher wild pitch to make it 3-0.
Tri-City starter Chris Clark put together a solid performance, giving up two runs on three hits in five innings of work and striking out eight. Though he received a no-decision, Clark ended a three-game losing streak and left the game with a chance to win with his outing.
Vancouver put up three runs in the bottom of the 6th to take a 5-3 lead heading to the 7th, but the Dust Devils answered back with two runs of their own to tie the game at 5-5. The top of the order keyed the attack, with Blakely drawing a walk and Ketchup sending an RBI double deep off off the right-center wall to score Blakely from first and get Tri-City within a run at 5-4. Ketchup then tagged up and got to third on a flyout, scoring on an RBI single by 1B Matt Coutney to even the game up.
Reliever Carlos Espinosa (4-1) got the win for the Dust Devils, throwing a scoreless 7th inning to put up a third straight scoreless performance. The one-two punch of Brady Choban and Cam Minacci then got the final six outs, both allowing one baserunner but leaving them on base to complete the win. Minacci grabbed his ninth save of the year, putting the finishing touches on his team’s first win north of the border since April 12, 2023.
Matt Coutney had a big offensive night for Tri-City, going 3-5 with three singles, and Caleb Ketchup went 2-5 with a double while driving in two runs and scoring twice.
Game two of the six-game series between the Dust Devils and the Canadians has been scheduled for a 7:05 p.m. start Thursday night at Rogers Field at Nat Bailey Stadium. Right-hander Ryan Costeiu (0-0, 2.84 ERA) will take the mound for Tri-City, with southpaw Connor O’Halloran (4-2, 3.13 ERA at Single-A Dunedin) making his Vancouver debut.
Broadcast coverage from British Columbia Thursday night begins with the pregame show at 6:45 p.m. both here and on the MiLB app.
Tri-City returns home on Tuesday, June 4, to begin a six-game series against the Eugene Emeralds at Gesa Stadium. It’s another Coca-Cola Tuesday, with $2.50 21 oz. Coca-Cola products for fans to enjoy throughout the ballgame.
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.