Saturday, Aug. 01, 2009

S-K routs Dust Devils

By Jack Millikin, Herald staff writer

It was Faith Night at Gesa Stadium on Friday night.

But there wasn't much hope for the Tri-City Dust Devils.

Salem-Keizer jumped all over Dust Devils starter Sheng-An Kuo for eight runs in just two innings of work and pounded four other pitchers for eight more runs in a 16-1 win.

"It was an ugly game," said Tri-City manager Fred Ocasio. "The pitching set the tone, and it was not a good tone."

The victory, the Volcanoes' eighth in the last nine games, was punctuated with 16 hits and a strong ensemble performance by four S-K pitchers, who held Tri-City to just four hits. The Volcanoes' 16 runs was their biggest output since a 19-run explosion against Vancouver on Aug. 29, 2006.

"These things happen," said Salem-Keizer manager Tom Trebelhorn. "Eugene beat us 22-4 last year. Every break went right for us."

Volcanoes first baseman Luke Anders had a career night, going 4-for-4 with four RBIs and a run scored. His biggest hit was a two-run single in S-K's eight-run third inning.

"Before the game we had a great batting practice," said Anders, a 32nd-round pick by San Francisco out of Texas A&M. "(Kuo) was locating his spots, but he was a bit up in the zone."

Kuo (1-2), a third-year free agent out of Taiwan, took the loss and raised his season ERA to 7.71. The Tri-City bullpen, which has been one of the reasons for the Dust Devils rise to prominence in the East, allowed 10 hits and eight earned runs over the final seven innings. Only Charlie Ruiz failed to allow a run, retiring the game's final two batters.

One bit of good news for the Dust Devils was Boise's 8-3 loss to Vancouver, which maintained their 6 1/2-game lead in the Northwest League East Division. But that was virtually the only consolation for Tri-City in its worst loss of the season and biggest losing margin since a 10-0 loss to the Volcanoes in Pasco on Sept. 7, 2007.

"It's just frustrating. It was one of those games where they just beat us in every area," said Dust Devils shortstop Joey Wong, who scored Tri-City's only run on a first-inning single by Kevin Clark to tie the score at 1.

But Salem-Keizer (30-11), which increased it's West Division lead to six games over Everett (24-17), scored the next 15 runs -- 10 of them in the second and third innings.

"Those long defensive innings are a little testing. You just think, 'Can we please just get three outs?' " Wong said. "But give credit to them. They didn't waste many at-bats."

About the only bright spot offensively for Tri-City was right fielder Orlando Sandoval, who went 2-for-4 to raise his average to .305.

"He had four quality at-bats and hit the ball hard every time," Ocasio said. "

Evan Crawford and Kyle Henson also had strong nights for the Volcanoes, each collecting three hits with three RBIs and two runs. Brooks Lindsley added two hits, two RBIs and three runs -- including the game's only home run in the top of the second.

David Quinowski (1-1) picked up the win in relief of starter Craig Westcott, who tossed 2 1/3 innings after a recent call-up from the Giants' rookie club in Arizona.