Dust Devils use pressure on base paths for win in season opener

Every run was huge for the Tri-City Dust Devils in their 5-4 season-opening win over the Everett AquaSox on Friday night at Gesa Stadium, and the score they pushed across in the bottom of the fourth was no exception.

In the box score, the play didn’t look particularly flamboyant. Chris Baker picked up his first professional hit and RBI to drive in Aldemar Burgos and give the Dust Devils a 4-2 lead, but what Baker and Burgos did on the basepaths caused sheer chaos for the AquaSox defense.

With Burgos on first and one out, Baker lined a solid base hit into left field. Burgos then decided to put pressure on Everett left fielder Austin Grebeck by taking third base on the play, a choice that seemed ill-advised at the time because, had Grebeck made an accurate throw, Burgos would have been out by four steps. But, playing in his first professional game, Grebeck made an errant throw to third and allowed Burgos to slide safely into the bag.

But that wasn’t the end of the play, because the ball got far enough away from Everett third baseman Nick Zammarelli that Burgos decided to push his luck even further and break for home while the ball bounded toward the short Gesa Stadium backstop. That caused relief pitcher Lane Ratliff — backing up the play — to rush his throw, which sailed over the catcher’s head and allowed Burgos to score.

The Sox made the Dust Devils pay a little bit for the aggressive base running at the tail end of the play as Everett second baseman Jordan Cowan picked up the loose ball in the middle of the infield and fired it over to third to put out the Dust Devils’ Baker, who was trying to leg out an extra base.

Aggressiveness on the base paths is something preached throughout the organization, Dust Devils manager Ben Fritz said, and both Burgos and Baker executed it perfectly on that fourth-inning play Friday night.

“The aggressive base running is something that puts pressure on the other team,” Fritz said. “We’re going to try and continue to do stuff like that, and if we steal runs because we’re running the bases aggressively, yeah, we’re going to make some outs, too, but that was the mindset for us coming in, and we’re going to keep being aggressive.”

Fritz said the precedent for aggressive base running is established by the Padres minor league outfield and base-running coordinator Tony Tarasco, which means every team in the organization is built to apply pressure on the defense.

Burgos used that mindset to create another run for the Dust Devils in the sixth when he reached on a walk, stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error by the catcher. He came around to score on an infield single by Tri-City catcher Kyle Overstreet to give Tri-City a 5-3 advantage.

LEWIS MAKES HIS DEBUT

Mariners first-round draft pick Kyle Lewis had anything but a grandiose first professional at-bat for the AquaSox, just a routine ground out to short in the first. But the batted ball allowed his teammate Cowan to move up to third. Gus Craig then drove in Cowan on an infield single up the middle for the game’s first run.

Lewis, the 11th overall pick in the draft, wouldn’t be held down long, though, as he picked up his first career hit in the sixth, a double laced down the right-field line. He scored on an RBI single by Kristian Brito to cut the Dust Devil lead to 4-3.

CRESSLEY CONTINUES TO IMPRESS

Right-hander Aaron Cressley threw a perfect 2 2/3 innings out of the Dust Devils bullpen Friday to pick up the seven-inning save.

When Cressley entered the game with one on and two outs in the seventh, Fritz said the plan was to have another reliever finish off the game, but it didn’t make sense to pull Cressley while he was so effortlessly mowing down Everett hitters.

With 16 pitchers on the opening day roster for the Dust Devils, Fritz said he wants to let other members of the deep bullpen show their stuff before naming a full-time closer, but after Friday, Fritz said he has no problem running Cressley out in high-leverage situations.

“Obviously you’re comfortable with him in that situation,” Fritz said about Cressley pitching the ninth.

Cressley pitched a bit for the Dust Devils in 2015 and didn’t allow a run in his five innings of work over four appearances. He has only allowed one hit while playing for Tri-City, and was named a Northwest League Mid-Season All-Star in 2014 while the former San Diego Padres affiliate Eugene Emeralds.

UP NEXT

Tri-City wraps up its season-opening series against Everett at 7:15 p.m. Sunday and will continue its home stand Monday when the Spokane Indians roll into town for a three-game set.

The Dust Devils will likely send left-hander Will Headean to the mound Sunday to face Everett’s Brandon Miller.

This story was originally published June 18, 2016 at 6:36 PM with the headline "Dust Devils use pressure on base paths for win in season opener."