Energetic Burgos ignites Tri-City
A night removed from losing to the Everett AquaSox 1-0 in 10 innings, the Tri-City Dust Devils were looking for a spark plug Sunday night, and Aldemar Burgos was happy to play that role in Tri-City’s 7-3 victory.
Though only three games into the season, Burgos already has developed a reputation for playing like his hair is on fire, and Tri-City manager Ben Fritz said that energy and passion can fuel his team.
“He does everything like, you can’t go over 100 percent, but he’s pretty dang close,” Fritz said. “And he does it the whole game that way. He’s always going to bring energy, which, as a manager, you can’t ask for anything more than giving your best effort.”
It was Nate Easley that led off the bottom of the first with a triple — he would hit one in the third as well — for the Dust Devils (2-1), but it was Burgos, batting in the No. 2 spot, that got the Tri-City dugout and Gesa Stadium crowd on their feet. Burgos hit a blooper that just stayed fair down the right-field line and just avoided the glove of Everett (1-2) right fielder Gus Craig. It was a ball that would have been an “excuse me” RBI base hit for almost any other player, but the speedy Burgos wasn’t going to be denied in his quest for second base.
Burgos’ full-speed sprint quickly turned to a head-first slide as he dove into second just ahead of Craig’s throw, then popped back up and lifted his arm above his head in celebration while looking back at his dugout. Though the Dust Devils couldn’t bring Burgos home from second with nobody out, Fritz said the extra base he took gave Tri-City all the momentum in the world.
“It’s a 1-0 game in the first inning, and you see his emotion getting up from second base,” Fritz said. “And that’s the energy I’m talking about that he provides. And absolutely, there’s no doubt in my mind that when he got out of the box, he was telling himself ‘I’m taking a double here.’”
And the energy Burgos brings to the field isn’t just noticed by his manager; players around him feed off the way he plays.
“He’s a great baseball player and he’s got a lot of baseball IQ, a lot of savvy in him,” Easley said. “He’s always stretching stuff to put the defense on its heels, and as soon as I saw that ball fall, I had no doubt he was going to try pushing for two.”
Pesky at the plate and on the base paths, the Puerto Rican-native Burgos has shown some impressive range and glove work in center field as well, and ran down a sinking line drive to left-center off the bat of Bryson Brigman in the eighth inning Sunday that looked like an easy knock, perhaps for extra bases, when it was hit.
HEADEAN LIGHTS OUT IN FIRST START
Returning to the Tri-City pitching staff from the 2015 playoff roster, Will Headean made his first non-rookie league start Sunday and proceeded to mow down any and all AquaSox hitters in his path in spite of the low pitch count he was on.
Drafted in the 13th round of the 2015 draft out of Illinois State, Headean tossed five shutout innings and allowed just two hits while striking out eight Everett batters.
“I had him last year (with the Arizona League Padres), and he competes really well,” Fritz said. “There’s going to be days he doesn’t have his best stuff and he’s still going to go out there and compete for you. Today, he obviously had good stuff.”
A five-run, four-hit third inning gave the Dust Devils an early 6-0 lead, which allowed Headean to throw a lot of fastballs and be aggressive, Fritz said.
Headean made one regular season appearance for the Dust Devils in 2015 as he picked up a win over Vancouver by throwing 2 2/3 innings of shutout relief with five strikeouts.
LOOKING AHEAD
The Dust Devils began a three-game series against the Spokane Indians Monday, which will continue through Wednesday. Tri-City will begin its first road trip of the season Thursday with a five-game set against the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes.
Here’s are the pitching probables for the remainder of the home stand (Spokane listed first):
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
Everettab | r | h | bi | Tri-Cityab | 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 |
Totals32 | 3 | 4 | 3 | Totals36 | 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 20, 2016 at 9:49 PM with the headline "Energetic Burgos ignites Tri-City."