VANCOUVER, B.C. – Friday afternoon the Tri-City Dust Devils (21-25 2H, 56-56) and the Vancouver Canadians (25-21 2H, 52-60) played a game that saw both teams throw figurative haymakers and narrowly stay away from throwing real haymakers, with the Dust Devils grabbing a 5-4 victory at Rogers Field at Nat Bailey Stadium to get in the week’s win column.
The visitors scored the first run of the day in the top of the 4th inning, starting with leadoff man SS Kendrey Maduro getting hit by a pitch. Two sacrifice bunts, first from LF Kevyn Castillo (who also reached via error on the play) and then from C Peter Burns, put Maduro at third with one out. 2B Capri Ortiz then hit a fly ball deep enough to right to score Maduro for a 1-0 lead.
It remained a 1-0 game to the bottom of the 6th, with Tri-City starter Peyton Olejnik throwing five no-hit innings and retiring 11 batters in a row at one point. Following a 6th inning leadoff walk, though, Vancouver RF Jean Joseph sent an Olejnik pitch into the Dust Devils bullpen for a two-run homer that gave the Canadians a 2-1 lead.
After conversation seemingly both late in his journey around the bases and following, both the dugouts and bullpens cleared as the talk grew in intensity. No shoving or punches occurred, the umpires warned both benches, and the game moved on. Ortiz made a fantastic play to end the inning, sprinting into center field to catch a fly ball that CF David Mershon lost in the high, hazy sun.
Tri-City got right back to work in the top of the 7th, with both RF Jorge Ruiz and Mershon drawing walks to start the inning. Ruiz then advanced to third on a pair of wild pitches and Mershon stole second, putting them both in scoring position. 1B Ryan Nicholson came through two batters later, lining a two-run single to center to score both runners and give the Dust Devils a 3-2 lead. Vancouver answered with a tying run in the bottom of the 7th.
Dann Bilardello’s team responded by putting a crooked number on the board in the top of the 8th. A two-out rally did the job, with Ortiz evading a tag attempt at first to reach on a throwing error. He then stole second and DH Adrian Placencia got him home with an RBI single to right, putting Tri-City back in front at 4-3. Ruiz followed with an RBI double to left-center, scoring Placencia to make it 5-3.
Though reliever Luke Schafer (3-2) gave up a run on a wild pitch in the bottom of the 8th, he stranded the potential tying run at third and handed things to closer Sam Tookoian. The big righty rebounded by throwing a 1-2-3 bottom of the 9th for his 14th save.
DUST DEVILS NOTES
-The two runs in the 7th pushed the season total for the Dust Devils in that inning to 79, the second-best mark in the Northwest League. Vancouver has the most 7th inning runs so far this year, scoring an even 100.
-The double by Ryan Nicholson in the 7th extended his hit streak to six games. The lefty has hits in eight of the team’s ten games in August.
-The Everett AquaSox tied the Canadians for the Second Half playoff spot with a walk-off 3-2 win over the Spokane Indians at Everett Memorial Stadium, keeping Tri-City four games back in the chase. The Eugene Emeralds retook the overall Second Half lead by holding off the Hillsboro Hops 6-5 at PK Park, with the Ems scoring five runs in the bottom of the 8th and the Hops scoring four in the top of the 9th but falling a run shy.
AN EARLY EVENING EVENT
Tri-City and Vancouver will contest game five of their six-game series at 5:05 p.m. Saturday evening at Rogers Field at Nat Bailey Stadium. Right-hander Mason McGwire (4 IP, 1 R, 4 H, 4 Ks in his Angels organizational debut last Saturday in Pasco) will get the nod for the Dust Devils. He’ll take on another recently traded starter, lefty Dasan Hill (2 IP, 2 R, 1 H in his first Blue Jays organizational outing) of the Canadians.
Free broadcast coverage on the MiLB app and dustdevilsbaseball.com will begin with the Dust Devils Pregame Show at 4:45 p.m. Fans can also watch the game for free on Bally Sports Live (Vancouver broadcast), and via subscription on MLB.tv and the MiLB app.
Tri-City comes back after the week abroad to host the Everett AquaSox for a six-game set beginning Tuesday, August 18. For tickets to the Everett series, as well as all 2026 Dust Devils home games, visit the official ticket site, dustdevilsbaseball.com.