Dust Devils Walked off by Canadians in Extras
August 9, 2023 - Northwest League (NWL)
Tri-City Dust Devils News Release
Tri-City Dust Devils' Matt Coutney at bat
(Tri-City Dust Devils)
The Tri-City Dust Devils (16-21 2H, 50-53) came back twice from deficits and had two chances to close out the Vancouver Canadians (25-12 2H, 63-39) Tuesday night, but Vancouver used the longball both to send the game to extra innings and win it in an 8-7 11-inning walkoff at Rogers Field at Nat Bailey Stadium.
Canadians C Kekai Rios, struggling coming into the game, lined a long fly ball of a pitch from Tri-Tri-City reliever Roman Phansalkar (4-2) over the short wall in left field and into the Vancouver bullpen to win the game and close out a 3-hour, 38-minute contest. Previous to the homer, automatic runner SS Josh Kasevich had advanced to third on a balk and scored on a wild pitch to tie the game at 7-7.
The walkoff was the final turn in a rollicking, back-and-forth contest. The top of the 11th saw the Dust Devils grab a 7-6 lead on an RBI single by 1B Matt Coutney, who celebrated his first professional game in his home country by going 3 for 5 with a sacrifice fly and 3 RBI. Canadians' reliever Sam Ryan (4-0) then loaded the bases but left them that way. Tri-City left a total of 17 runners on base, which eclipsed the previous highest total in a game this season of 14 on June 11 against Eugene.
Two run bursts proved effective for the Dust Devils in earlier frames. The visitors scored three runs in the 5th inning to erase a 3-0 deficit. 3B Werner Blakely walked and stole a base, and Coutney followed with an RBI hit the opposite way to get Tri-City on the board at 3-1. C Myles Emmerson then singled to left with one out and CF-LF Joe Stewart hit a grounder up the middle that caused Vancouver 2B Michael Turconi to rush the ball to first, both scoring on an errant throw to tie the game at 3-3.
After Vancouver scored to take a 4-3 lead in the 6th, the club went right back to work in retaking the lead in the top of the 7th. SS Arol Vera laced a two-run single to left center to give the Dust Devils a 5-4 lead, and Coutney hit a sac fly just deep enough for Vera to score and make it a 6-4 game before RF Alexander Ramirez was tagged out trying to get from first to third.
Tri-City starter Bryce Osmond went five innings, striking out five and giving up three runs on two hits with three walks and a hit batter. Four relievers followed including Andrew Peters, who went 1.1 innings and was the pitcher of record before CF Dasan Brown tied the game for Vancouver with a line drive home run off Willian Suarez over the shorter left-center field fence.
Matt Coutney, Alexander Ramirez, Joe Stewart and Arol Vera all had multi-hit games for the Dust Devils, who regroup with the Canadians for game two of their six-game set at 7:05 p.m. Wednesday night at Rogers Field at Nat Bailey Stadium. Long lefty Sammy Natera, Jr., (2-6, 4.03 ERA) will face off against another southpaw, Adam Macko (4-4, 5.23 ERA), with broadcast coverage beginning with the pregame show at 6:45 p.m., both here and at the MiLB First Pitch app.
Tri-City returns to Gesa Stadium on Tuesday, August 22 for a six-game series 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' Matt Coutney at bat |
Northwest League Stories from August 9, 2023
- Triumphant in Ten: Hops Even Series at Spokane - Hillsboro Hops
- Emeralds Drop Game 2 Against Everett - Eugene Emeralds
- Emerson Hancock Heading to the Bigs - Everett AquaSox
- Dust Devils Hit the Road for 12 Games - Tri-City Dust Devils
- AquaSox Open Road Trip with 6-0 Win - Everett AquaSox
- Emeralds Shut Out in Series Opener vs Everett - Eugene Emeralds
- Walks, Hit Batters Cost Hops in Opener at Spokane - Hillsboro Hops
- Dust Devils Walked off by Canadians in Extras - Tri-City Dust Devils
- Rios Blasts C's to Walk-off Win - Vancouver Canadians
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