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NWL Tri-City Dust Devils

Dust Devils Inch Past Indians

June 21, 2023 - Northwest League (NWL)
Tri-City Dust Devils News Release


Tri-City Dust Devils' D'Shawn Knowles in action
Tri-City Dust Devils' D'Shawn Knowles in action
(Tri-City Dust Devils)

The relief corps of the Tri-City Dust Devils (33-31) held the prolific offense of the Spokane Indians (32-31) off the board for the final five innings, coming back for a 6-5 win Tuesday night at Avista Stadium.

The Tri-City bullpen trio of Hayden Seig (1-0), Erik Martinez and Houston Harding combined to allow only one hit in 5.2 innings of work, a 4th inning two-run single with the bases loaded by Spokane RF Jordan Beck. From there the three struck out nine Indians batters and only allowed one baserunner via an 8th inning walk. Harding, who issued the walk but worked around it, finished a 1-2-3 bottom of the 9th with a strikeout to punctuate his first professional save.

Tri-City again took advantage of its opponents' mistakes, capitalizing on two 3rd inning errors by Spokane to score twice. CF D'Shawn Knowles got things started with a one-out infield single and looked to steal second. Indians starter Carson Palmquist had Knowles picked off, throwing to Indians 1B Zach Kokoska. The first baseman's throw to second came in a little high and wide, and the speedy Knowles slid to the back corner of the bag before the tag was applied, grabbing a stolen base and moving into scoring position.

SS Osmy Gregorio then came up with two out and pulled a grounder inside the third base bag and down the left field line for an RBI double that gave the Dust Devils a 1-0 lead. 2B Arol Vera followed with a grounder back to Palmquist, who bobbled it for the first error of the inning. The lefty then had Vera dead to rights on a pickoff move, but Kokoska's throw ended up in the outfield, a second error that gave Gregorio ample time to score from third to double the lead.

The Indians quickly erased the lead, scoring three runs in the bottom of the 3rd inning via an RBI single by Beck and two wild pitches from Tri-City starter Caden Dana that allowed runners to score. The Dust Devils tied the game right back in the top of the 4th with an RBI single by 3B Werner Blakely, plating RF Alexander Ramirez who had singled, stolen second and advanced to third on a throwing error by Spokane C Ronaiker Palma, who attempted to catch him stealing.

Though Beck's two-run single in the bottom of the 4th gave the Indians a 5-3 lead, a three-run 6th inning by Tri-City flipped the script. Ramirez singled to lead off the frame and Blakely doubled off the center field wall to put runners at second and third with no one out. DH Casey Dana then flew out deep to left field, a sacrifice fly that scored Ramirez to make it a 5-4 game.

C Myles Emmerson followed Dana's sac fly by lining a double to right field, restoring runners at second and third for Knowles. The switch-hitting Bahamian faced Spokane reliever Keegan James (1-1) and hit a fly ball down the left field line that landed fair and got to the wall. Blakely and Emmerson scored to give the Dust Devils a 6-5 lead, one that they would get safely home for their 33rd win of the season.

Werner Blakely (2-4, 2B, RBI), D'Shawn Knowles (2-4, 2B, 2 RBI) and Alexander Ramirez (2-3, BB, 2 R) each had multi-hit games for Tri-City, and reliever Erik Martinez struck out four batters in two perfect innings of relief.

The Dust Devils and Indians will meet up for game two of their six-game series at 6:35 p.m. Wednesday night at Avista Stadium. Right-hander Cole Percival (0-2, 8.44 ERA) goes to the mound for Tri-City, and righty Blake Adams (0-0, 5.25 ERA) gets the start for Spokane. Broadcast coverage will begin with the pregame show at 6:15 p.m. both here and at the MiLB First Pitch app.

Tickets for the Dust Devils' next home series, June 28-July 3 against the Hillsboro Hops, 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).

Check out the Tri-City Dust Devils Statistics




Images from this story

Tri-City Dust Devils' D'Shawn Knowles in action
Tri-City Dust Devils' D'Shawn Knowles in action
   



Northwest League Stories from June 21, 2023


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