Dust Devils Leapfrog AquaSox for Late Comeback Win
July 19, 2023 - Northwest League (NWL)
Tri-City Dust Devils News Release
Tri-City Dust Devils' Osmy Gregorio at bat
(Tri-City Dust Devils)
Held off the scoreboard for the first six innings, the Tri-City Dust Devils (9-10 2H, 43-42) got big hits in the late innings to come back from 3-0 down for a 4-3 win over the Everett AquaSox (10-9 2H, 44-41) Tuesday night at Funko Field.
Tri-City found themselves down early after two Everett home runs, a solo shot by RF Gabriel Gonzalez and a two-run blast by 2B Axel Sanchez, gave the AquaSox an early 3-0 lead through an inning. Dust Devils starter Jorge Marcheco shook the tough inning off and held the home team off the scoreboard for five frames following, giving his team a six-inning quality start with six strikeouts.
The visitors struggled to find their footing at the plate, with Everett lefty Reid VanScoter throwing 5.1 scoreless innings and handing the game to the bullpen. Tri-City had at least one runner on in every inning, and had runners in scoring position in the 3rd, 4th and 6th innings but could not get a run across.
That changed in the top of the 7th, when Tri-City's bats took on rehabbing MLB reliever Casey Sadler. C Myles Emmerson struck a one-out single up the middle to get aboard in front of CF D'Shawn Knowles. The switch-hitting Bahamian socked a Sadler fastball over the wall in right field for a two-run home run to get the Dust Devils both on the board and within a run at 3-2. The homer was Knowles's fourth home run of 2023, all coming since the Second Half of the Northwest League season started June 23.
Reliever Willian Suarez (1-2) set the AquaSox down in order in the bottom of the 7th, and his teammates got back to work at the plate. 1B Matt Coutney led off the 8th with a single to left, advancing on consecutive groundouts to bring the tying run 90 feet away with two out. That brought up DH Gustavo Campero, who had been tagged out to end the 6th trying to stretch a single into a double.
Campero would not be denied this time, hitting a high slicing fly ball down the left field line that landed both just past the reach of Everett LF Randy Bednar and just inside the line on the warning track. Coutney scored on the RBI double, tying the game at 3-3. 3B Osmy Gregorio followed with a clutch two-out RBI single grounded up the middle and through, scoring Campero to give Tri-City a 4-3 lead.
Suarez then returned to the mound for the bottom of the 8th, lined up against the 2-3-4 of the AquaSox order. That did not phase the righty, who struck out the side of Gonzalez, C Harry Ford, and DH Hogan Windish to complete two perfect innings of work.
Everett would make it interesting in the bottom of the 9th against Dust Devils reliever Erik Martinez. A leadoff double by Sanchez put the potential tying run in scoring position and brought the potential winning run to the plate. Martinez induced a pop-up in foul territory and a long fly ball out to right, the latter giving Sanchez enough time tag and move up to third with the AquaSox down to their final out. Bednar came up and sent a fly ball to center, but Knowles had ample time to run underneath it and make the catch, clinching the win and handing Martinez his fifth save in as many tries.
At the plate, Gustavo Campero keyed the Tri-City attack, going 3 for 4 on the night with two singles alongside his game-tying double. Myles Emmerson reached base three times, going 2 for 3 with a walk, and Matt Coutney went 2 for 5 as part of an 11-hit night for a Dust Devils team that has won five of its seven games in Everett so far in 2023.
Game two of the six-game series has been scheduled for a 12:05 p.m. first pitch Wednesday afternoon at Funko Field. Right-hander Bryce Osmond (2-6, 4.24 ERA) will get the start for Tri-City, while Everett will go with lefty Raul Alcántara (3-4, 8.52 ERA). Broadcast coverage begins with the pregame show at 11:45 a.m., both here and at the MiLB First Pitch app.
Following the series in Everett the Dust Devils return to Gesa Stadium for a six-game set with the Hillsboro Hops July 25-30, a series which includes the July 28-30 return of the Columbia River Rooster Tails on Columbia Cup weekend in the Tri-Cities. Tickets for the series with Hillsboro 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' Osmy Gregorio at bat |
Northwest League Stories from July 19, 2023
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