Well, Well, Well…How the Turntables: Indians Blank Dust Devils

A night after the Tri-City Dust Devils (15-23 2H) shut out the Spokane Indians (26-12 2H), the visitors returned the favor with a 7-0 win over their hosts Wednesday night at Gesa Stadium that evened the series at a game apiece.

The low-scoring nature of Tuesday’s series opener carried over into its second game, with neither team scoring in the first three innings. Only one runner from either side made it into scoring position in the first third of the game: Spokane DH Charlie Condon, who struck an opposite field single to right field in the top of the 1^st for his first hit in pro ball and then promptly stole second for his first stolen base before getting left stranded.

A quick strike from the Indians opened the scoring in the top of the 4^th inning. Condon doubled to the warning track and 3B Kyle Karros drew a walk to put runners at first and second with no one out for 1B Bryant Betancourt. The left-hander hit a pitch from Tri-City starter Chris Clark (3-11) deep to center and over Dust Devils CF Joe Redfield, short-hopping the wall and scoring both Condon and Karros for a two-run double that gave the visitors a 2-0 lead. Betancourt added an RBI single through the right side an inning later, scoring CF Cole Carrigg to stretch the Spokane advantage to 3-0.

While the Indians amassed the lead their starter, Blake Adams (7-3), continued his dominance over the Tri-City lineup by throwing six shutout innings and striking out ten Dust Devils at the plate. The righty walked two and gave up five hits, facing only three runners in scoring position and diffusing any threats. Adams moved to 3-0 against Tri-City in 2024, with all three starts scoreless, six innings long and at Gesa Stadium.

A night of firsts continued for Charlie Condon in the top of the 7^th when he sent a soaring shot well over the left field wall and inside the pole for his first home run as a pro. The solo blast made it 5-0 for Spokane, who went on to add two in the 8^th and one more in the 9^th to push seven runs across. Condon put another single on the scorecard in the 8^th, completing a 4-for-5 night and falling a triple shy of the cycle in only his second game in affiliated ball.

Tri-City made one more attempt to break the shutout in the bottom of the 9^th. DH Juan Flores mashed a double to the warning track in right-center and C Alberto Rios drew a walk to put two on with two out. Indians reliever Felix Ramires then went to a full count with LF Caleb Ketchup but struck him out looking to end the game.

1B Sonny DiChiara joined Rios in getting a hit and reaching base twice for the Dust Devils. Both extended on-base streaks, with DiChiara’s line drive double in the 4^th extending his hitting streak to six games. Joe Redfield’s 1^st inning hit pushed his hit streak to five games and, out of the pen, lefty Leonard Garcia helped his team with 1.1 scoreless innings of relief.

Game three of the six-game series between Tri-City and Spokane takes place at 7:05 p.m. Thursday night at Gesa Stadium where it will be Hat Giveaway Night presented by Community Real Estate, Keller Williams. The first 500 fans into the ballpark will receive the 2024 Dust Devils giveaway hat, with gates opening at 6:05 p.m.

The Dust Devils will send right-hander Ryan Costeiu (0-3, 2.54 ERA) to the mound and the Indians will counter with left-hander Michael Prosecky (1-0, 5.93 ERA), who faces Tri-City for the first time.

Broadcast coverage of the game begins with the pregame show at 6:45 p.m. Thursday night both here and on the MiLB app, with video coverage on Bally Live and MiLB.tv.

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.