A Game of Inches: Tri-City Walked Off by Eugene
Sunday evening’s matchup between the Tri-City Dust Devils (1-8 2H) and the Eugene Emeralds (5-4 2H) came down not just to the wire but the top of the left field fence at PK Park, where Justin Wishkoski’s walk-off two-run homer handed the Dust Devils heartbreak and the Emeralds a 7-6
Sunday evening’s matchup between the Tri-City Dust Devils (1-8 2H) and the Eugene Emeralds (5-4 2H) came down not just to the wire but the top of the left field fence at PK Park, where Justin Wishkoski’s walk-off two-run homer handed the Dust Devils heartbreak and the Emeralds a 7-6 win to complete taking five of six from their guests.
Wishkoski hit a high fly ball to deep left off a pitch from Willian Suarez (2-2) toward the Tri-City bullpen with LF Caleb Ketchup giving chase. Ketchup, who made an incredible leaping catch opening the bottom of the 9th to take away an extra-base hit bid from 3B Andrew Kachel, went up and tried to bring back Wishkoski’s ball from over the fence. He briefly had the ball in his glove, but it crashed out when his arm hit the top of the fence and fell to the bullpen floor for Eugene’s victory. Emeralds hurler Nick Morreale (3-3) received the win by pitching a perfect 9th inning.
The walk-off ended a back and forth game in which the Dust Devils scored and the Emeralds matched through the first six-and-a-half innings. DH Cam Williams homered in each of his first two at-bats, socking a solo homer to left in the 2nd and a two-run homer in the 4th for Tri-City’s first three runs. Eugene replied with CF Quinn McDaniel scoring on a wild pitch in the bottom of the 2nd and RBI singles from DH Matt Higgins and 2B Thomas Gavello in the home side of the 4th.
The visitors broke a 3-3 tie in the 6th with two RBI singles by SS Chad Stevens and C Juan Flores, forging a 5-3 advantage which the Emeralds again nullified in the bottom of the 6th. Eugene loaded the bases with no one out, plating a run on a groundball double play and getting an RBI single by 1B Bryce Eldridge to tie the game at five all.
Then, in the 7th, the Dust Devils took the lead that they held to the 9th. RF Landon Wallace legged out an infield single to get aboard and then scored from first on an RBI double by CF Joe Redfield to hand Tri-City a 6-5 edge. Reliever Carlos Espinosa then held the line by throwing two perfect innings, striking out five of the six men he faced.
Dust Devils starter Joel Hurtado went five innings, giving up three runs (two ER) on seven hits and striking out six while walking three. Offensively, five Dust Devils had multi-hit games with 1B Matt Coutney, Juan Flores, Chad Stevens, Landon Wallace and Cam Williams all putting up a pair of hits.
Tri-City turns the calendar to July and gets right back to work, hosting the Spokane Indians for an abbreviated three-game series beginning tonight at 7:05 p.m. at Gesa Stadium. Right-hander Jorge Marcheco (2-5, 5.73 ERA) toes the slab for the Dust Devils and southpaw Mason Green (6-4, 2.51 ERA) gets the ball for the Indians.
Broadcast coverage of tonight's ballgame begins with the pregame show at 6:45 p.m. 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.