Fantastic Four: Tri-City Pitchers Shut Out Spokane

Starter Jorge Marcheco and three relievers from the Tri-City Dust Devils (15-22 2H) bullpen shut out the league-leading Spokane Indians (25-12 2H) Tuesday night, backing up a pair of midgame unearned runs for a 2-0 win at Gesa Stadium that opened a six-game series.

Marcheco, innings and pitch limited since an injury shut him down for most all of July, gave up leadoff hits in the first two innings which his defense erased via double plays. He also hit a batter, extending the top of the 2^nd, but Marcheco picked him off during an attempt to steal second and then went 1-2-3 through the Spokane lineup in the 3^rd and 4^th innings. The Bayamo, Cuba native struck out three of his last four batters to offer his best outing since returning to the rotation.

Righty reliever Jose Fermin (3-2) took the torch from there in a second straight brilliant outing, striking out five in two innings of work covering the 5^th and 6^th. Fermin allowed a two-out walk in the 5^th, stranding the runner with a strikeout, and struck out the side in the 6^th to hold a potent Spokane offense at bay. Glenn Albanese went 1-2-3 in the 7^th but got into trouble in the 8^th, loading the bases with no one out before getting a strikeout to finish his night.

Tri-City manager Willie Romero then called on closer Luke Murphy to take it the rest of the way, coming in with the potential tying run at second base in the 8^th. Murphy had no problem, getting consecutive outs to leave the bases full and then working around an infield hit in the 9^th to get his eighth save in as many tries.

The two runs for the Dust Devils would not qualify as glamorous but turned out to be more than enough. Both came in as part of a two-run rally in the bottom of the 5^th that began with LF Caleb Ketchup reaching on catcher’s interference. 2B Mac McCroskey singled up the middle, allowing Ketchup to move to third.

CF Joe Redfield then looped a single into right off Indians starter Victor Juarez (3-6) that scored Ketchup for the first run and got McCroskey to third. A throwing error on a Redfield stolen base attempt then gave McCroskey an easy run home for the 2-0 lead that held the rest of the way.

The home nine had only five hits in the game but also received two multi-hit efforts. Redfield went 2-for-4 with his RBI single and 1B Sonny DiChiara 2-for-3 to help their team to a second straight win.

Game two of the six-game series between Tri-City and Spokane takes place at 7:05 p.m. Wednesday night at Gesa Stadium, where both fans and the team will celebrate Dusty’s Birthday presented by Chuck E. Cheese. Every kid at the ballpark will get a slice of cake, as supplies last, in celebration of everyone’s favorite mascot (age undisclosed).

The Dust Devils will send right-hander Chris Clark (3-10, 5.80 ERA) to the mound, coming off a win in his last start in Vancouver. The Indians will counter with right-hander Blake Adams (6-3, 2.94 ERA), who has thrown two six-inning starts against Tri-City this season without giving up a run.

Broadcast coverage of the game begins with the pregame show at 6:45 p.m. Wednesday 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.