Mattinson’s late homer lifts Dust Devils past Salem-Keizer

Chris Mattison blasted a go-ahead, two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth, and reliever Fred Schlichtholz picked up his first professional win in his second appearance as the Tri-City Dust Devils topped the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes 4-2 on Sunday night at Gesa Stadium for their first win of the five-game set.

The series wrapped up Monday. Tri-City (11-7, T-1 in Northwest League North Division) will next hit the road for seven games — two at Everett followed by five at Eugene — before its first off-day of the season, July 11.

Salem-Keizer (7-11) scored a run in the top of the eighth on a two-out RBI single by Orlando Garcia to knot the score at 2-all. Justin Lopez led off the bottom of the inning with a double, then came around to score the eventual winning run with one away when Mattison ripped the ball out to left.

Schlichtholz (1-0) picked up the final four outs for the Dust Devils and struck out the side in the ninth despite allowing a hit and a walk.

Making his fourth Dust Devils start of the season, right-hander Emmanuel Ramirez turned in his third straight quality start, allowing two runs on seven hits over 7 2/3 innings while striking out nine. He threw 95 pitches, 71 of them for strikes.

Bryant Aragon went 2-for-3 and led off the fifth with a double for Tri-City, then came around to score on a two-bagger by Josh Magee.

ROSTER MOVES

The San Diego Padres added left-handed pitcher Thomas Cosgrove, their 12th-round selection in this year’s MLB Draft, to the Dust Devils’ roster.

In two relief appearances for the Arizona League Padres, Cosgrove, 21, allowed just two base runners and struck out five over 3 1/3 innings while picking up a save.

He left Manhattan College ranked sixth in school history with 225 career strikeouts, over three years, and was tops in the MAAC this past season with 105 strikeouts, tying the program’s single-season record.

This story was originally published July 3, 2017 at 5:21 PM with the headline "Mattinson’s late homer lifts Dust Devils past Salem-Keizer."