Tri-City Forces Extras, Falls to Vancouver
On an otherwise high-scoring Thursday in the Northwest League the Tri-City Dust Devils (12-21 2H) and Vancouver Canadians (20-13 2H) played a taut, low-scoring ballgame that Vancouver took 3-2 in ten innings at Rogers Field at Nat Bailey Stadium. Tri-City gave itself chances to score throughout the night, chipping away
On an otherwise high-scoring Thursday in the Northwest League the Tri-City Dust Devils (12-21 2H) and Vancouver Canadians (20-13 2H) played a taut, low-scoring ballgame that Vancouver took 3-2 in ten innings at Rogers Field at Nat Bailey Stadium.
Tri-City gave itself chances to score throughout the night, chipping away after falling behind 2-0 in the bottom of the 1st on a two-run home run by Vancouver RF Je’Von Ward. The visitors got their first run back in the top of the 2nd when 2B Caleb Ketchup, who singled to left and swiped his first of four stolen bases on the night to move up, scored on an RBI double to right-center by LF Landon Wallace to cut the deficit in half at 2-1.
Ryan Costeiu, getting the start for the Dust Devils, bounced back from the homer by going on a strikeout rampage. The Arkansas Razorback fanned six of his last seven batters faced to finish 3.1 innings with a flourish, only leaving the game after hitting his pitch count of 60.
Lefty Nick Mondak picked up where Costeiu left off, throwing two scoreless and hitless frames and getting five of his six outs via the strikeout.
Patience keyed the Tri-City attack in the top of the 7th, taking four walks to push a second run across. Ketchup led off the inning with a free pass, stealing both second and third to get 90 feet away. A two-out walk rally then ensued, with CF Joe Redfield and SS Adrian Placencia walking to load the bases and RF Werner Blakely looking in ball four with the bases loaded to plate Ketchup for a 2-2 tie.
Missed chances, though, would come back to bite a Dust Devils team that left the bases loaded in three separate innings, including the 7th and the 9th, and went 1-for-16 with runners in scoring position on the night. The Canadians fared similarly, going 0-for-8 in that department and getting struck out 16 times by Tri-City pitching. Hurlers Jake Smith (2 IP, 3 Ks) and Glenn Albanese (1.2 IP, 2 Ks) did their part by posting zeroes in the later frames.
That sent the game to extra innings. Mac McCroskey pinch-ran for DH Cam Williams as the automatic runner at second to start the top of the 10th. C Juan Flores flew out to left-center and McCroskey tagged up to advance. Though replays showed a tag applied with a foot off the bag, McCroskey was ruled safe at third. He then tried to score with the infield in on a Ketchup grounder to shortstop but was tagged out at the plate. Ketchup promptly stole second for his fourth steal of the night, but 3B Arol Vera flew out on a pitch from debuting Vancouver reliever Bo Bonds (1-0) to end the inning.
The Canadians then came to the plate with reliever Ryan Langford (0-3) taking on the bottom of the 10th and 3B Cutter Coffey starting at second as the potential winning run. Langford induced DH Jackson Hornung to hit a grounder to Placencia, who looked to get Coffey trying to advance to third, but the ball snuck under his glove and into left field. The error allowed Coffey to score the winning run, handing Langford and the Dust Devils the toughest of tough-luck losses.
Both teams had five hits, with Joe Redfield going 2-for-4 with a walk and 1B Sonny DiChiara doubling for his first High-A hit. Caleb Ketchup’s four stolen bases pushed his NWL-best total to 45 steals with 33 games to go in the 2024 regular season.
Tri-City and Vancouver meet up for a 1:05 p.m. afternoon contest Friday at Rogers Field at Nat Bailey Stadium, game four of their six-game series. The Dust Devils give the start to right-hander Joel Hurtado (7-6, 4.78 ERA), while the Canadians hand the ball to left-hander Kendry Rojas (1-1, 2.79 ERA).
Broadcast coverage of the game begins with the pregame show at 12:45 p.m. Friday afternoon, both here and on the MiLB app.
Tri-City returns 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.