Taylor Kohlwey does it again for Dust Devils

Taylor Kohlwey overcame a slow day at the plate to pick up his second walk-off hit of the season and lift the Tri-City Dust Devils to a 3-2, 10 inning victory over the Boise Hawks Friday night at Gesa Stadium.

"I just tried to be relaxed up there, kind of have some rhythm at the plate, the first few at-bats didn't feel that good," Kohlwey said. "I don't know, baseball usually works like that. You'll feel terrible the first few at-bats, and then it all just clicks."

Luis Asuncion smoked a one-out double down the left field line to set the table for Kohlwey in the 10th, and the Dust Devils' leadoff-hitting left fielder - who was 0-for-4 at the time - ripped a line drive to left for the game-winning knock.

"It's good for my confidence, good for our team because we've been struggling lately," Kohlwey said. "Gotta get these wins because we've started the second half slow, but it's a huge confidence booster."

The win was the second straight for the Dust Devils (3-5), who lost five out of six to start the second half of the season. Both wins came after a much-needed, three-day all-star break.

After Boise (4-4) scored the first run of the game in the top of the fourth, Buddy Reed decided to get pesky on the base paths to ignite the Dust Devil offense. Reed led off the bottom of the fourth with an infield single up the middle, and stole second and third with Chris Baker at the plate. With no outs and the tying run 90 feet away, Baker ripped a line drive up the middle to score Reed and tie the game at 1.

In a pinch-hitting role, Hunter Redman ripped a line drive into center that ricocheted off Boise pitcher Javier Medina and scored Baker from second to give the Dust Devils a 2-1 lead. Medina appeared to take the line drive off his right hand, and had to leave the game as a result.

"We went with Redman and he got a clutch knock," Tri-City manager Ben Fritz said. "Everybody contributed tonight in some facet, so it was a good team win."

Redman entered the game in the fourth after Tri-City catcher Kyle Overstreet was hit in the shoulder by a foul ball and had to exit. Fritz said removing Overtsreet was precautionary and that he should be back in the lineup as soon as he's needed.

Boise tied the game back up in the top of the seventh after Luis Castro did his best Buddy Reed impression by reaching via an infield hit and stealing second and third. Tyler Orris delivered a two-out base hit down the right-field line to drive in Castro, but was thrown out by right fielder Luis Asuncion when he tried to stretch it into a double.

The throw was Asuncion's second defensive highlight of the evening as he robbed Castro with a diving catch in the fourth and doubled up Willie Abreu at first, who failed to tag on the play.

The Hawks threatened to take the lead in the eighth as Mark Zimmerman (1-2) relieved Nick Monroe with runners at the corners and one out. Zimmerman struck out Jacob Bosiokovic, the first batter he faced, and intentionally walked Abreu to load the bases after Wes Jones stole second. Bobby Staehl appeared to come up with the go-ahead hit when he floated a Texas-leaguer into shallow center, but second baseman Nate Easley had other plans as he made a bee-line to the ball and caught it on a full sprint to end the inning.

"(Zimmerman) was outstanding, there's no way around it," Fritz said. "He got the righty (Bosiokovic), they ended up stealing second, so we walked the lefty (Abreu), and then he got the next righty (Staehl). And Easley made a great running catch on that play."

Zimmerman picked up the win for the Dust Devils after he fired 2 2/3 innings of shutout relief, striking out six Hawks in the process.

In another abbreviated start, Dust Devils lefty Eric Lauer continued to dominate another set of Northwest League hitters. He set down the first six batters he faced but ran into a little bit of trouble in the third, when the Hawks loaded the bases with one out. Lauer managed to get out of the jam by back handing a Steven Linkous grounder and throwing out Will Haynie at the plate, then striking out Jones to end the frame.

Lauer's final line included five strikeouts over his three shutout innings, which extended his scoreless innings pitched streak to nine to begin his Dust Devils career.

The Dust Devils and Hawks will play the middle game of their five-game series at 7:15 p.m. Saturday. Joey Lucchesi (LHP, 0-1, 2.14 ERA) will face Christian Talley (RHP, 2-0, 2.33 ERA), who is making a spot start for the Hawks.

This story was originally published August 5, 2016 at 11:52 PM with the headline "Taylor Kohlwey does it again for Dust Devils."