Friday, Jun. 26, 2009

Dust Devils' first loss comes in 11 innings

By Jack Millikin, Herald staff writer

PASCO -- Fred Ocasio has always favored an aggressive approach to baserunning in his four years as Tri-City Dust Devils manager.

That approach may have prevented the potential game-winning run with one out in the ninth inning of a 5-4, 11-inning loss to Vancouver on Thursday at Gesa Stadium.

The Canadians guessed right on a suicide squeeze play and caught Dallas Tarleton coming down the line at third base.

"I always take that shot. I like to squeeze, and their manager knew that. Give them credit," Ocasio said. "It was a tough game, but we didn't lose it -- we gave it away with too many mistakes."

Vancouver scored the winning run in the 11th inning after Tyreace House drew a leadoff walk. He advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Nino Leyja, but Tarleton's throw got away from Bo Bowman at first base, and House scored on the error charged to Bowman.

The loss was the Dust Devils' first of the season in six games.

"We knew we weren't going to go 76-0," said Tim Wheeler, who was one of the Dust Devils' highlights of the night, going 2-for-5 with a pair of RBIs and a run scored. "I felt good early, but my timing wasn't very good late in the game."

Wheeler, batting second, picked up his first professional hit in the first inning with a soft liner to right field. Then he stole second base -- his second steal in as many nights -- and scored on Scott Beerer's RBI single over shortstop to give Tri-City a 1-0 lead.

Wheeler then came up with one out in the third inning with runners on second and third and bounced a 1-2 pitch from Vancouver starter Joselito Adames up the middle for a two-run single, giving the Dust Devils a 3-0 lead.

But Vancouver picked up two runs off Tri-City starter Sheng-An Kuo in the top of the fourth. Kuo walked Ryan Ortiz to lead off the inning and then allowed a single to left by Anthony Aliotti. Kuo was relieved by Richard Testa, but both runners scored to cut the lead to 3-2.

The Canadians tied the game at 3 in the top of the sixth on an RBI double by Jose Crisostomo.

Tri-City retook the lead in the bottom of the sixth as Kent Matthes scored on an RBI groundout by Tarleton.

But the Dust Devils gift-wrapped Vancouver the tying run in the top of the seventh, allowing Rashun Dixon's high infield popup to drop on the grass near first base with two out. Dixon, a 10th-round pick by the Oakland Athletics in 2008, then stole second and headed to third when Tarleton's throw dribbled into center field. Shortstop Joey Wong recovered the ball and had Dixon beaten with the throw to third, but Scott Beerer couldn't hold on to the ball.

Dixon then scored on a wild pitch by Aaron Weatherford to make it 4-4.

Notes

A pair of Oakland Athletics 2009 draft picks made thier pro debut Thursday. C/1B Ortiz, a sixth-rounder out of Oregon State, went 0-for-3 with a run, and 1B Aliotti, a 15th-rounder out of Saint Mary's (Calif.), finished 1-for-5 with a run. ... Wheeler also made a stong defensive play in center field. With one out in the ninth inning and a runner on first, Dixon lined a ball to right-center, but Wheeler sprinted towards the warning track and gloved it on the run.