PASCO – A long 6th inning solo home run by 3B Jake Munroe proved the only offense necessary for the Tri-City Dust Devils (26-23) Friday night, with starter Francis Texido leading the way on the mound in a 1-0 shutout of the Spokane Indians (20-29) at Gesa Stadium.
Neither team scored in the first five innings of the contest, with both teams unable to cash in bases loaded situations early in the ballgame. Tri-City’s came with two out in the bottom of the 1st inning, after walks drawn by both 2B Adrian Placencia and Munroe as well as 1B Ryan Nicholson reaching on catcher’s interference. Spokane starter Gabriel Hughes, a Triple-A pitcher on rehab assignment, forced a groundout to get out of trouble.
His counterpart, Dust Devils starter Francis Texido (1-2), pulled off a highwire act in the top of the 2nd. The Indians loaded the bases with no one out on three singles, two of them on the infield. It looked as though Spokane would at least score first, and perhaps put up a crooked number, but Texido struck out RF Max Belyeu to get the first out. He then induced a popout from C Alan Espinal and an inning-ending force out from SS Kelvin Hidalgo to escape without giving up a run. Texido settled in from there, throwing six scoreless innings in his best start for Tri-City and earning the win.
The Dust Devils offense then found itself stymied by both Hughes and Indians reliever Lebarron Johnson, Jr. (0-2), with the two combining to retire 11 in a row before RF Aaron Graeber’s one-out single in the bottom of the 5th. The big swing came an inning later, also with one out, when Munroe smashed a ball high over the left field wall for his 10th homer of the year and a 1-0 lead.
Spokane threatened in both the 8th and 9th innings, first getting a leadoff double from Espinal off reliever Benny Thompson in the 8th inning. The Indians tried to bunt Espinal over but the attempt from Hidalgo came back on the fly to Thompson, who caught it for the first out. LF Tommy Hopfe drew a walk to put two on with one out, but Thompson induced a grounder to SS David Mershon that he grabbed and threw to third to get the lead runner. A strikeout kept the shutout intact.
Still 1-0 to the 9th, Thompson tried for a three-inning save but came an out shy, leaving two on for righty Sam Tookoian. The closer got Espinal to fly out to right-center to complete the shutout, giving Tri-City both the win and a three-games-to-one series lead.
BEEN AWHILE: GO FAST. TURN LEFT.
Tri-City and Spokane line up for game five of their six-game series at 6:30 p.m. Saturday night at Gesa Stadium. The Dust Devils will play for the first time in 2026 as the Columbia River Rooster Tails, the team’s alternate identity celebrating the summer hydroplane races near the Blue Bridge. As well, postgame fireworks will light the sky above the Tri thanks to McEachen Electric.
Left-hander Lucas Knowles (3-0, 3.13 ERA) toes the slab for the Rooster Tails, coming off a a pair of wins last week in Everett. Right-hander Jackson Cox (2-1, 4.67 ERA), who beat the baseballers of Pasco, Kennewick and Richland in his first go against them May 5, gets the ball for the Indians.
Free broadcast coverage on the MiLB app and dustdevilsbaseball.com will begin with the Rooster Tails Pregame Show at 6:10 p.m. Fans can also watch the games for free on Bally Sports Live, and via subscription on MLB.tv and the MiLB app.
Following the series the Vancouver Canadians come to town for six games, the second half of a 12-game homestand. For tickets for the Spokane and Vancouver series, as well as all 2026 Dust Devils home games, visit the official ticket site, dustdevilsbaseball.com.