Viñeros Victorious Over Indians
April 20, 2023 - Northwest League (NWL)
Tri-City Dust Devils News Release
Viñeros de Tri-City's John Swanda in action
(Tri-City Dust Devils)
The Viñeros de Tri-City (4-7) and the Spokane Indians (4-5) played a taut, tightly contested ballgame on a cool and rainy night, with the Viñeros pulling out a 2-1 victory Thursday at Gesa Stadium.
The game started as a pitcher's duel between Tri-City starter John Swanda and Spokane hurler Jarrod Cande, with both posting zeroes for the first half of the game. Both gave their teams quality starts but neither factored into the decision.
The Viñeros first dented the scoreboard in the bottom of the 5th inning, via three infield singles. LF Alexander Ramirez started the inning by legging out a groundball up the middle for a hit, becoming the first baserunner for Tri-City on the night. An errant throw on a pickoff attempt allowed Ramirez to get to second.
2B Osmy Gregorio chopped a grounder down the third base line that Cande fielded but decided against throwing to first, putting runners on the corners with two out. 3B Casey Dana came up and stung a line drive off the Spokane starter, giving Ramirez the chance to score the game's first run.
Cande, who remained in the game after the Dana liner, gave up just the one unearned run in his six innings of work. He gave up four hits, walked one and struck out six.
Swanda, meanwhile, took his start into the 7th. He walked the leadoff man, 3B Sterlin Thompson, and then threw a wild pitch which allowed Thompson to move to second. DH Yanquiel Fernandez then singled to left. Ramirez fielded and fired home, where Tinsman tagged Thompson out to preserve the Viñeros lead.
Fernandez, off the bag at second after the out at the plate, drew a throw from Tinsman, which ended up in the outfield. Fernandez moved to third, ending both the chaotic play and Swanda's night. The Iowan righty went 6.1 innings in his longest start for Tri-City, striking out three and giving up five hits, a walk, and a hit batter.
Dylan King (1-1) came in in relief to hold the 1-0 lead. The first batter he faced, Indians C Braxton Fulford, hit a fly ball caught by Viñeros RF D'Shawn Knowles in right field that traveled far enough to get Fernandez home for a sacrifice fly and a 1-1 tie.
Tri-City would quickly get the lead back in the bottom of the 7th. Ramirez led off with a double to right-center off Spokane reliever Anderson Bido (0-1), putting the go-ahead run in scoring position. CF Joe Stewart followed with an infield single that drew a low throw from Indians SS Adael Amador, on which an alert Ramirez moved to third.
2B Osmy Gregorio came to bat, hitting a groundball to Amador. The shortstop threw to second, beginning a double play. Ramirez ran for home, scoring what ended up the decisive run.
King pitched a scoreless 8th inning and handed the torch to Kelvin Caceres, who gave up a two-out hit but finished the game with a strikeout for his first save of 2023.
At the plate, Ramirez went 2 for 4 and scored both Viñeros runs. SS Arol Vera also went 2 for 4 on the night.
Now leading the six-game series two games to one, Tri-City will look to start a winning streak in game four of the series Friday night at Gesa Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m., with pregame broadcast coverage beginning at 6:10 p.m. at dustdevilsbaseball.com and the MiLB First Pitch app. A pair of righties face off: Connor Van Scoyoc (0-0, 4.50 ERA) for the Dust Devils, and Victor Suarez (0-0, 7.36 ERA) for the Indians.
Those at the ballpark Friday will get to enjoy another Family Feast Night, with $2 hot dogs, ice cream sandwiches, bags of chips, Laffy Taffy ropes and 12 oz. Coke products available throughout the night.
Tickets for this week's series are on sale now, with special ticket rates are 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
 Viñeros de Tri-City's John Swanda in action |
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