Offense explodes as Tri-City routs Everett in series finale
Nate Easley tripled in each of his first two at bats and the Tri-City Dust Devils’ offense exploded early Sunday night to beat the Everett AquaSox 7-3 to win the season opening series.
For the first time this season, the wind was blowing out of Gesa Stadium, and Dust Devil manager Ben Fritz said that was a big reason why his team more than doubled its run production from the first two games.
“Honestly, I think it’s psychologically a big difference when you look up and see the flag blowing out as opposed to up and in,” Fritz said. “Yesterday, the pitcher was good, we weren’t terrible, we had opportunities, but today it worked out better. But that’s just the game.”
Swinging freely with the wind at his back, Easley led off the bottom of the first by driving a ball over the head of Mariners first-round draft pick Kyle Lewis in center field for his first triple and first career extra-base hit, and Aldemar Burgos drove him in with a hustle double down the right field line.
“I knew the ball was going to carry a lot more than it had been, so that’s when I decided to turn my swing loose a little bit more,” Easley said. “He left a pitch out over the middle of the plate and I got into it.”
The Dust Devils (2-1) kept the offense coming in the third by leading off the inning with five hits — including triples by Easley and Taylor Kohlwey and a double by Alan Garcia — and a walk as they went on to score five runs in the inning to take a 6-0 lead and chase Everett (1-2) starter Brandon Miller (0-1).
“It’s contagious, guys are putting good ab’s together and the next guy wants to do it, and the next guy wants to do it, and I just think it starts to build confidence,” Fritz said. “To me, they just saw good things and it set the tone for the game.”
In total, the Dust Devils had six extra base hits after hitting only singles in their first two games of the season.
Making his first start of the season, Will Headean (1-0) — who made eight appearances for the full-season Class A Fort Wayne Tin Caps this year — was on a short pitch count Sunday night, but dominated the AquaSox nonetheless. In his five innings of shutout ball, Headean gave up just two hits and struck out eight to pick up his third career win.
With the early cushion supplied by the Tri-City bats, Headean said he felt comfortable throwing a lot of fastballs for strikes, allowing him to work ahead of the aggressive Everett hitters.
“It sends you out to the mound with a lot of confidence,” Headean said of the Dust Devils scoring six runs in the first three innings. “If you put up runs early and your defense is making plays, it makes my job a lot easier.”
Padres sixth round draft pick Will Stillman kept the streak of rookie relievers shining in their debuts going as he dealt two innings of no-hit relief and struck out three to get the Dust Devils into the ninth with a four-run lead.
“Stillman was solid,” Fritz said. “After (Everett) made the game close, he came in and did a nice job of tacking them.”
David Bednar followed that up with his debut in the ninth, setting Everett down in order and getting two strikeouts.
Yale grad Chasen Ford didn’t land so softly in his first outing as the AquaSox scored three runs on three hits off the right-hander in the top of the sixth to make the score 7-3. The bumpy relief appearance wasn’t helped by the fact first baseman Carlos Sosa misplayed a grounder in the hole for an error on Ford’s first batter.
ON DECK
The Spokane Indians (1-2) roll into Pasco on Monday to start a three-game series with the Dust Devils. All games are scheduled to begin at 7:15 p.m.
Here are the pitching probables for the series (Spokane’s pitcher listed first):
Monday: Luke Lanphere (RHP, 0-0 0.00 ERA) vs. Jordan Guerrero (RHP, 0-0 0.00 ERA)
Tuesday: Sal Mendez (LHP, 0-1, 27.00 ERA) vs. Braxton Lorenzini (RHP, 0-0, 0.00 ERA)
Wednesday: Kyle Cody (RHP, 0-0, 9.00 ERA) vs. Emmanuel Ramirez (RHP, 0-0, 0.00 ERA)
DUST DEVILS 7, AQUASOX 3
Sunday
Everett ab | r | h | bi | Tri-City ab | r | h | bi | ||
Grebeck lf | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Easley 2b | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
Brigman ss | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Burgos cf | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Lewis cf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Baker ss | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
Craig rf | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | A Garcia dh | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
K Brito 1b | 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 | Kohlwey rf | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Filia dh | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Asuncion lf | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Gurrni c | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Redman c | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
I Gnzlez 3b | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Sosa 1b | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Andrade 2b | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Savinon 3b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Totals 32 | 3 | 4 | 3 | Totals 36 | 7 | 10 | 7 | ||
Everett | 000 | 003 | 000 | — | 3 |
Tri-City | 105 | 100 | 000 | — | 7 |
E—I. Gonzalez (1), Brigman (2), Sosa (1). LOB—Everett 5, Tri-City 9. 2B—K. Brito (1), Burgos (1), A. Garcia (1). 3B—Easley 2 (2), Kohlwey (1).
Everett | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
Miller L, 0-1 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 0 |
Ratliff | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
Surrey | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Koval | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Gorgas | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Tri-City | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
Headean W, 1-0 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
Ford | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
Stillman | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
Bednar | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Miller pitched to four batters in the 3rd. Umpires—Home, Harrison Silverman; First, Randy Wilmes. T—2:31. A—1,579.
Dustin Brennan: 509-582-1413, @Tweet_By_Dustin
This story was originally published June 19, 2016 at 11:05 PM with the headline "Offense explodes as Tri-City routs Everett in series finale."