SPOKANE VALLEY – Starting pitcher Peyton Olejnik expertly weaved his way through five challenging innings for the Tri-City Dust Devils (17-14) Friday night, but the 6th inning got both him and his team in a 3-0 loss to the Spokane Indians (12-19) at Avista Stadium.
Olejnik (1-3) had to navigate a surprising gauntlet of five Tri-City errors, two each in both the 1st and 3rd innings. The tall righty committed one of those himself, on a wide pickoff throw to first. Also, Spokane had runners in scoring position both in four of the first five innings and a runner at third in three of those, but Olejnik found a way to post zeroes and move on. The most challenging of the frames came in the second, with a double and single back-to-back putting runners at second and third with one out. Olejnik produced back-to-back strikeouts to leave the runners where they were.
The Dust Devils threatened in the 1st inning, with leadoff man 3B Caleb Bartolero drawing a walk and moving to second on a wild pitch. 1B Matt Coutney then singled to right and Bartolero got the wave home, but Indians RF Max Belyeu fired home on a hop to get Bartolero and pick up his fourth outfield assist in three games. The visitors then got a runner in scoring position in the 4th, 5th, 7th and 8th innings but came up empty each time.
Spokane C Alan Espinal did the only damage of the game, coming in the bottom of the 6th after back-to-back hits left runners at second and third with no one out. The backstop sent an Olejnik pitch high and deep over the left field wall, a three-run home run that brought in the only runs of the game and handed Indians lefty Stu Flesland III (2-1) the win. Despite the homer Olejnik had a strong performance, striking out four and walking none in his six-inning quality start.
One more chance at a comeback came in the 9th inning, with Tri-City getting the first two men on via consecutive hit-by-pitches from Spokane reliever Hunter Mann. A pitch to the next batter, C Peter Burns, hit the dirt and popped up in the air off Espinal. Though it took him time to locate it the runners held, and Burns grounded into a double play later in the at-bat. Mann then struck out SS Johan Macias to pick up his first save.
Alex Martinez threw two scoreless innings of relief for the Dust Devils. Matt Coutney had another multi-hit game, extending his hit streak to 11 games and his on-base streak to 16 games by going 2-for-4.
GOING FOR A 5-9, 5-10 SPLIT
Tri-City and Spokane play game five of their six-game series at 6:35 p.m. Saturday night at Avista Stadium, with the Dust Devils needing two wins over the weekend to secure a road split. Right-hander Yeferson Vargas (2-1, 3.08 ERA) will start for Tri-City, with left-hander Bryson Hammer (1-3, 4.12 ERA) doing the same for the Indians.
Free broadcast coverage on the MiLB app and dustdevilsbaseball.com will begin with the Dust Devils Pregame Show at 6:15 p.m. Fans can also watch the games for free (Spokane broadcast) on Bally Sports Live, and via subscription on MLB.tv and the MiLB app.
Tri-City then returns home for a series with the league-leading Eugene Emeralds beginning Tuesday, May 12 on a Coca-Cola Tuesday. For tickets for the Eugene series, as well as all 2026 Dust Devils home games, visit the official ticket site, dustdevilsbaseball.com.