Bonus Baseball Better to Dust Devils in Win Over Canadians

August 3, 2024 – Northwest League (NWL)
Tri-City Dust Devils News Release

Tri-City Dust Devils’ Kevin Bruggeman at bat
(Tri-City Dust Devils)

Playing their third extra-inning game in a week and second in less than 24 hours the Tri-City Dust Devils (13-21 2H) turned the tables on the Vancouver Canadians (20-14 2H) Friday afternoon, getting their runner across in the 10th inning and shutting the door in the bottom for a 6-5 win at Rogers Field at Nat Bailey Stadium.

A game that seesawed back and forth went to extras tied 5-5 with Tri-City CF Joe Redfield starting the top of the inning at second as the automatic runner. 2B Caleb Ketchup grounded out but made sure to send the ball to the right side of the infield, giving Redfield safe passage to third. RF Werner Blakely came up with one out, facing Vancouver reliever Aaron Munson (0-2).

The righty induced a second groundball, hit softly and edging off the third-base side of the mound. Canadians SS Nick Goodwin fielded it and looked to go home, as he did to cut down the Dust Devils’ scoring attempt in the 10th in Thursday’s 3-2 Vancouver win. This time, though, the grounder was too slow for a play at the plate and Goodwin went to first instead to get Blakely, allowing Redfield to score what ended up the winning run.

Tri-City closer Luke Murphy took care of business in the bottom of the 10th, punctuating his seventh save in as many tries with a strikeout of Canadians 2B Marcos de la Rosa to end the game. Reliever Roman Phansalkar (1-1) pitched two scoreless innings for the win, rebounding from back-to-back walks to begin the bottom of the 9th by getting a double play and a groundout to send the game to extras.

Catchers proved the offensive stars for both sides in the contest. Dust Devils C Kevin Bruggeman homered twice to left-center for his first multi-homer game as a pro, first sending a two-run shot over the wall in the 4th to give his team a 2-1 lead and adding an almost identical solo shot in the 8th to push the lead to 5-2. His counterpart, Vancouver C Jacob Sharp, drove in all five runs for the Canadians via an RBI single, a bases loaded walk and a game-tying three-run blast to left in the bottom of the 8th.

Werner Blakely had another successful day at the plate for Tri-City alongside his winning RBI groundout, going 2-for-5 with a double and an RBI triple that scored Redfield and put the Dust Devils back in front 3-2 in the 8th. The Detroit, Michigan native has had a disciplined eye in the box since…