Thursday, Jul. 30, 2009

Volcanoes slip past Devils

By Jack Millikin, Herald staff writer

True, the Tri-City Dust Devils have a reasonably comfortable 71/2-game lead in the Northwest League's East Division.

But Wednesday's 4-3 loss to Salem-Keizer in 10 innings at Gesa Stadium was not the work of a championship baseball team.

Not by a long shot.

An uncharacteristic bullpen collapse and a late-inning defensive miscue cost the Dust Devils dearly in a game they had every chance to put away.

"There isn't much to say. We just gave it away," said Tri-City manager Fred Ocasio. "We'll see where we go from here. If we win the next three, I'm sure we'll forget all about it."

The Dust Devils (24-15) are still off to the best start in the nine-year history of the franchise. Meanwhile, the Volcanoes (28-11) -- which have reached the NWL championship in each of the last three seasons -- continue to roll in the West Division, staying four games ahead of Everett (24-15).

Kent Matthes dropped Drew Biery's two-out 10th-inning pop-up to right field, allowing Biery to advance to second base. Dust Devils reliever Paul Bargas, who had struck out the first two batters of the inning, then uncorked two wild pitches to Ryan Cavan to bring in Biery for what would be the game-winning run.

"You fight and scrap, scratch and claw for nine innings and then have two balls go to the backstop," said Volcanoes manager Tom Trebelhorn. "You don't really have a game plan for that."

Salem-Keizer appeared to score the go-ahead run with two outs in the ninth inning, when Dan Cook hit a bases-loaded grounder up the middle. Shortstop Joey Wong gloved it on the run then spun to make a soft toss to second base. Caleb Curry slid into second hoping to beat the throw but was called out instead.

"If we hold on we might score five or six runs, but you never know," Trebelhorn said. "You just hope the kids keep playing and don't give up."

The loss overshadowed a spectacular start from Dust Devils right-hander Dan Perkins, who scattered just four hits and a walk over six scoreless innings. His replacement, Carlos Luna, allowed a walk and three singles to lead off the seventh, and Perkins' 2-0 lead turned into a 3-2 deficit.

"It's just baseball. It happens," Perkins said. "We're called a pitching staff for a reason. We all do our part. We save the bullpen when they need it, and they come through for us. You just keep your head up."

It was the latest of several quality starts for Perkins, a 27th-round draft pick out of Delaware State who has emerged as the Dust Devils' ace. Perkins lowered his ERA to 2.54, which keeps him among the NWL's top pitchers.

"I felt good," he said. "I had a good pace going, and I was getting ahead a lot."

Bargas (0-1) allowed one unearned run and took the loss despite striking out the side in the tenth.

Matthes led the Tri-City offense, going 2-for-5 with a run and an RBI. He tripled to lead off the second inning and scored on Leonardo Reyes' single to center. He also hit an RBI double to left-center field that got by Volcanoes leftfielder Ryan Mantle with two outs in the eighth, tying the score at 3.