Tri-City Topped by Vancouver

Tri-City Dust Devils (25-39) starter Joel Hurtado threw a quality start and his teammates got on the board after getting shut out of a series-opening doubleheader, but the Vancouver Canadians (30-32) scrounged up enough runs for a 4-3 win Wednesday night at Gesa Stadium.

Hurtado threw six innings and gave up three runs on nine hits, striking out six and keeping Vancouver scoreless in his last three innings of his outing. The hard-throwing righty also issued only one walk, throwing 63 of his season-high 101 pitches for strikes.

The Tri-City offense pushed a run across in the bottom of the 1^st inning via an RBI single by 1B Matt Coutney. 2B Caleb Ketchup, who had drawn a walk and stolen second, scored on the play to tie the game at 1-1 through an inning.

The Canadians plated a pair of runs in the top of the 3^rd inning, including a solo home run by DH Jace Bohrofen, to take a 3-1 lead. Again, though, the Dust Devils would answer back, beginning with a leadoff double by CF Werner Blakely. The Detroiter would then tag up on consecutive plays, first to third on a flyout by RF Jorge Ruiz and then home to score on a sacrifice fly by Ketchup that made it a 3-2 game.

SS Chad Stevens, who singled and stole two bases in his first at-bat, walked with one out in the bottom of the 4^th. DH Kevin Bruggeman then came up with two down and lined a pitch through by Vancouver starter Pat Gallagher into the right-center gap, scoring Stevens with his first Tri-City triple and tying the game at 3-3.

A three-base hit would then get the Canadians back in business in the 7^th, with the lefty slugger Bohrofen lining a pitch from reliever Dylan Phillips (0-2) that split the outfielders in the left-center gap for a triple. A walk put runners on the corners with one out and brought LF Je’Von Ward to the plate. The lefty hit a grounder that deflected off of Phillips’ glove to Stevens, who flipped the ball to Ketchup at second for the force out. Ward reached easily, though, with his RBI fielder’s choice plating Bohrofen and giving the visitors the run it needed to win its third straight to open the series.

Vancouver’s pitching staff locked it down not only from there but before it as well, with Gallagher and relievers Conor Larkin (2-0), Josh Mollerus and Alex Amalfi combining to retire the final 16 Dust Devils batters they faced. Amalfi picked up his first save of 2024 for the Canadians in the process.

Tri-City will take on Vancouver as Viñeros de Tri-City in game four of their seven-game in six days series beginning at 7:05 p.m. Thursday night at Gesa Stadium. It’s Dash for Cash Night presented by Wildhorse Resort and Casino, with some fans getting the opportunity to go on the field and grab cash raining down from a lift in the outfield. It’s also a Thirsty Thursday with discounted 12 oz. beers ($3 domestic and $4 premium) available while alcohol is sold.

Right-hander Jorge Marcheco (2-4, 5.12 ERA) will take the mound for the Dust Devils, countered by left-hander Connor O’Halloran (1-1, 2.81 ERA) of the Canadians. Broadcast coverage of Thursday night’s game 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 Vancouver series are on sale now, including for Erik The Peanut Guy Sock Night on Friday, June 21, 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.