PASCO – The Tri-City Dust Devils (19-20) fought, scratched and clawed for nine innings on a beautiful Sunday afternoon at Gesa Stadium but the Eugene Emeralds (30-9) once more proved too much in an 8-3 win for the visitors to close out the teams’ six-game series.
Down 1-0 before they first got to bat, Tri-City again had an early answer for the visitors. 3B Caleb Bartolero drew a leadoff walk and advanced to second on an infield single by DH Matt Coutney. Later in the frame 1B Ryan Nicholson came through again for the Dust Devils, lining an RBI single to center to score Bartolero and tie the game at 1-1.
As often happened during the series, though, Eugene quickly responded and retook the advantage by scoring three runs in the 2nd to lead 4-1. Dust Devils starter Francis Texido (0-2) rallied after the 2nd to post two scoreless innings afterwards and get through four innings for his side. A back-to-back-to-back double stretch to open the top of the 5th put two more on the board for the Emeralds, and a wild pitch with a runner at third in the 7th made it a 7-1 game…