Close Again, But Not Enough: Tri-City Swept by Vancouver
August 14, 2023 - Northwest League (NWL)
Tri-City Dust Devils News Release
Tri-City Dust Devils outfielder Casey Dana
(Tri-City Dust Devils)
Sunday afternoon's matchup between the Tri-City Dust Devils (16-26 2H, 50-58) and the Vancouver Canadians (30-12 2H, 68-39) proved a microcosm of the week's play north of the 49th parallel, with Tri-City fighting first-place Vancouver tooth and nail but falling shy in a 3-1 loss at Rogers Field at Nat Bailey Stadium that completed a Canadians six-game sweep.
The lone Dust Devils run came on a solo home run in the top of the 5th inning by 1B Casey Dana, hooking over the left field foul pole for his third home run of the season. The blast tied the game at 1-1, responding to a line-drive longball from Vancouver 1B Devonte Brown that gave the Canadians a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the 3rd.
Two more solo shots would round out the scoring, both coming off Tri-City reliever Will Christophersen (0-1) on a breezy afternoon in British Columbia. Canadians 3B Cade Doughty left the yard in the bottom of the 6th, giving his team a 2-1 lead, and Brown hit a second home run over the high wall in left center in the bottom of the 8th. All in all, Vancouver outhomered the Dust Devils 11-1 in the six-game series, with Casey Dana's homer the first for the Dust Devils in 11 games.
Other than the longballs, the series was extremely close throughout. The Canadians took the six games by a combined eight runs, winning four of the six by one run and the other two games by two. Tri-City had leads in the 8th inning or later in three of the six games and were at least within one run in the 8th inning in five of the six contests. Also, the Dust Devils either matched or outhit Vancouver in all six games of the series. The Canadians found a way in each of them, though, leaving the visitors not only with an 8-game losing streak but a 1-10 record in games at Rogers Field at Nat Bailey Stadium in 2023.
Tri-City starter Bryce Osmond, making his second start of the series, went four innings and gave up one run on three hits, striking out four and walking one. The outing concluded a stellar week for Dust Devils starting pitching, with the six starters combining for a 2.15 ERA (7 ER in 29.1 IP).
At the plate, both CF D'Shawn Knowles (.450 AVG [9-20], 3 2B, 2 RBI) and 3B Werner Blakely (.421 AVG [8-19], 2 2B, 5 BB) had great series, helping pace the attack.
As well, Sunday's game saw the return of RHP Glenn Albanese, Jr., to Tri-City's bullpen. The tall righty from Batavia, Illinois, pitched a scoreless 5th inning in his first Dust Devils outing in almost exactly one year (August 14, 2022 v. Everett).
Tri-City has Monday off in the Lilac City, resting up for a six-game series with their Inland Northwest rivals, the Spokane Indians. The series opener has been set for a 6:35 p.m. first pitch at Avista Stadium, with the probable starters left-hander Sammy Natera, Jr. (2-7, 3.89 ERA) for the Dust Devils and right-hander Anderson Pilar (2-0, 3.18 ERA) for the Indians.
Broadcast coverage begins with the pregame show at 6:15 p.m., both here and at the MiLB First Pitch app.
After the Spokane series Tri-City will return to Gesa Stadium Tuesday, August 22 for a six-game set with the Everett AquaSox. Tickets for both the Everett series and all games 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 dustdevilsbaseball.com, call the team office at (509) 544-8789, or visit the team office (10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on game nights, or Monday-Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. otherwise).
Images from this story
 Tri-City Dust Devils outfielder Casey Dana |
Northwest League Stories from August 14, 2023
- Join Us for Fireworks & Fan Appreciation this Week - Spokane Indians
- Close Again, But Not Enough: Tri-City Swept by Vancouver - Tri-City Dust Devils
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