Morejon solid in pro debut, but Dust Devils fall to Volcanoes

Malique Ziegler was a triple shy of the cycle, and the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes used a four-run sixth inning to come back and beat the Tri-City Dust Devils 8-6 on Friday night in the second of a five-game set.

The San Diego Padres’ highly-touted rookie pitcher, 18-year-old lefty Adrian Morejon, made his pro debut in starting for the Dust Devils (1-1). He gave up a leadoff homer to Ziegler in the bottom of the first, but was otherwise solid, giving up just two more hits, striking out one and walking none in his three innings of work.

Center fielder Tre Carter led Tri-City at the plate. The Padres’ 11th-round selection in the 2016 MLB Draft hit his first career home run in the fifth — a solo shot — and also tripled.

Making his first appearance at a level higher than rookie league ball, Salem-Keizer starter Jose Marte struggled mightily with his control. After getting leadoff hitter Justin Lopez to ground out, Marte walked five straight Dust Devils before getting pulled in favor of Nick Deeg. Deeg eventually got Wilfri De La Cruz to line into a 6-4 double play to end the inning, but not before Tri-City hung three runs on the board without getting a hit.

Salem-Keizer pitchers issued 10 walks, compared to four by the Dust Devils.

Trailing 5-3 in the bottom of the sixth, Salem-Keizer (1-1) rattled the bats against long reliever Emmanuel Clase (0-1). Robinson Medriano hit a one-out triple, then scored on a ground-ball single by Manuel Geraldo. Ryan Kirby came up with an RBI knock to tie the game at 5-all, then came around to score on a two-run homer by Byron Murray, which gave the Volcanoes the only lead they would need.

Henberger Medina (1-0) picked up the win for the Volcanoes, giving up two runs — one earned — on two hits and striking out four in 3 2/3 innings of relief. Cesar Yanez recorded a six-out save, striking out four Dust Devils while giving up no hits and just one walk.

Pitching matchups for the three remaining games of the series, with the Dust Devils starters listed first:

Saturday (6:35 p.m.): RHP Will Stillman vs. LHP Sidney Duprey

Sunday (5:05 p.m.): RHP Henry Henry vs. LHP Alex Bostic

Monday (5:05 p.m.): LHP Osvaldo Hernandez vs. RHP Alejandro De La Rosa

This story was originally published June 16, 2017 at 10:58 PM with the headline "Morejon solid in pro debut, but Dust Devils fall to Volcanoes."