VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- This was not the way the Tri-City Dust Devils wanted to go out.
Tri-City players could only watch as the Vancouver Canadians celebrated their first-ever Northwest League title Sunday afternoon at Nat Bailey Stadium after a gut-punch of a 9-2 loss in Game 3 of the NWL championship series.
The Dust Devils locker room was dead silent after the loss. They built some momentum after a 5-3 win yesterday to keep their title hopes alive.
"We've been waiting for this chance all year. We knew we had the team to do it," said Tri-City outfielder Jared Simon, who drove in the Dust Devils' first run. "It will take a few days, maybe a week to get over this. It'll sit there, but you've got to learn from it."
The C's, who nearly missed out on the playoffs after losing five of their last six regular-season games, were riding an emotional wave after beating Eugene twice on the road in the divisional playoffs. Then they stole Game 1 of the championship series at Gesa Stadium on Friday.
The Dust Devils hit .395 in two regular-season games against Canadians' starter Jesse Hernandez, but they struggled against the 6-foot-1 right-hander when it counted. Hernandez, an undrafted free agent out of Central Michigan in 2010, struck out nine batters in six innings and allowed just one run on three hits to pick up his first postseason win.
"Obviously, we couldn't get much going offensively," said Tri-City manager Fred Ocasio. "(Hernandez) threw the ball well. He's not a high-velocity guy. He threw a lot of changeups and kept us off balance the whole game."
The Dust Devils scored the first run of the game in the fourth inning. Leadoff man Brian Humphries led off the frame with a single to right and took third when Tyler Massey singled. Massey might have cost Tri-City a run when he was thrown out trying to take an extra base, because the next batter -- Jared Simon -- doubled down the left field line to bring home Humphries for a 1-0 lead.
"It's nice when you take a lead in a game like that. You always want to score first," Ocasio said.
Then Vancouver rallied for three runs off Tri-City starter Tyler Gagnon, who escaped trouble in the second and third innings, but walked Kevin Patterson to lead off the fourth.
Gagnon got two outs and gave up a single to Andrew Burns. Then he had Pierce Rankin on the ropes at 2-2. Rankin, a University of Washington product, forced a full count and fouled off six straight pitches before bouncing a single back up the middle to drive in Patterson. On the same play, Humphries then overthrew third base, allowing Burns to score for a 3-1 lead.
"The guy battled. He just kept fouling pitches off," said Gagnon, who took the loss after giving up three runs -- one earned -- over 4 1/3 innings. He left the game in the fifth, giving way to Craig Bennigson. "(Vancouver) played a hell of a ballgame. Overall, they were the better team today."
Vancouver exploded for five more runs in the seventh, beginning with a solo home run by NWL all-star Jon Berti off Bennigson. The Dust Devils brought in Ken Roberts, another NWL all-star, but he gave up three more runs on three consecutive hits, giving the Canadians an 8-1 lead.
"They were hitting the ball well," Simon said. "Whatever mistake we made on defense or pitching, they took advantage of it."
Still, Tri-City was hoping to scrape out another run or two before it was over.
"Our team has had so many comebacks. It's never truly over until the last out," said Humphries, who finished with two hits, a run and an RBI.
But the Dust Devils bats just couldn't catch fire. Tri-City did add one more run in the eighth inning, when Humphries drove in Sam Mende from second with a single to center, cutting the lead to 8-2.
That was all the Dust Devils could muster before the Canadians tacked on one more in the ninth.
"This is going to be a hard one to get over," said Ocasio, who earned a championship ring with the Tucson Toros in 1993 but is still looking for another. "I spent all morning thinking this is going to be the year. But we weren't able to do it."
