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NWL Tri-City Dust Devils

Weird, Wild Game Breaks Against Tri-City, for Spokane

June 22, 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 story of a late comeback win turned tragically for the Tri-City Dust Devils (33-32) Wednesday night into a 6-5 walk-off win for the Spokane Indians (33-31) at Avista Stadium.

Spokane won the game in the bottom of the 9th inning on a walk-off two-run home run by RF Jordan Beck with one out. Beck hit a deep line drive off Tri-City reliever Emilker Guzman (3-3) to the short porch in right field, with his counterpart Alexander Ramirez racing to try to grab it. Ramirez got his glove to the ball just before colliding with the wall, but the force of the collision caused the ball to slip out of the glove and over the short fence for the game-winning homer.

The homer ended a strange game with multiple twists and turns, and which started out as a low-scoring contest. The only run in the first five innings of the game came in the bottom of the 1st inning, when the Indians scored via an error charged on a double steal. Spokane then plated three runs in the bottom of the 6th, stringing together three doubles and a single in four batters to take a 4-0 lead.

The Dust Devils, though, rallied in the top of the 8th inning for five runs to take the lead, sending all nine men to the plate in the frame. SS Arol Vera led off with a single, and 1B Matt Coutney singled behind him to put two on with no one out. Ramirez and 3B Werner Blakely then drew successive walks, Blakely's coming with the bases loaded to score Vera and get Tri-City on the board at 4-1. DH Gustavo Campero sent a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Coutney to make it 4-2, and C Myles Emmerson doubled down the right field line off Spokane closer Angel Chivilli (2-4) to bring the Dust Devils within a run at 4-3.

That brought CF D'Shawn Knowles up with runners at second and third. He hit a grounder to Spokane SS Nic Kent, whose throw home got by Spokane C Ronaiker Palma and to the backstop. The error, charged to Kent, allowed both Blakely and Emmerson to score and gave Tri-City a 5-4 lead to which they clung until Ramirez's incredible almost catch turned into Beck's walk-off homer.

Despite the loss, the Dust Devils got a great performance from 1B Matt Coutney in just his second game at the High-A level. The lefty hitter from Wetaskiwin, Alberta, Canada went 4 for 5 with a double on the night, and also made two great defensive plays at first to take away hits. Coutney's four-hit game was the second for a Tri-City hitter in 2023, matching Arol Vera's four hits in a May 19 win over Vancouver. Also, Alexander Ramirez and D'Shawn Knowles had multi-hit games for the second straight night.

The Dust Devils and Indians meet for game three of their six-game series at 6:35 p.m. Thursday night at Avista Stadium, a game which also will serve as the end of the First Half for both teams. Right-hander Chase Chaney (4-2, 3.48 ERA), who is 3-0 against the Indians in 2023, gets the nod for Tri-City and righty Jarrod Cande (4-1, 4.39 ERA) will counter 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 22, 2023


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