Max Palmer (Photo by Noah Clooten)
DEVILS LAKE — The Storm were one out away from throwing 10 no-hit innings on Friday.
Minot’s Carson Deaver denied those dreams. He laid a perfect bunt down the third-base line. Easton Kraft made a valiant effort, but Deaver was safe at first by a hair.
Devils Lake and Minot, knotted at 1-1 in a game that was scheduled for nine innings, ended up playing 12 oddball innings at DLYA Field. The Storm collected nine hits and four walks, and the Vistas recorded just two total hits. But Minot (15-9) edged Devils Lake (14-7) in a 3-2 marathon against a parade of four Devils Lake pitchers — including an unexpectedly stretched out Max Palmer.
The Storm had prime chances to score more runs throughout the evening, especially in the seventh, eighth and 11th. A failed steal attempt of home in the bottom of the 11th sent to the game to its 12th and final inning.
“I thought we barreled up a lot of baseballs. They just kind of hung up in the wind, and [the Vistas] made the play when they needed to,” Devils Lake coach Brent Luehring said. “Anytime you’re competing with a Double-A team, you’ve just gotta do everything right. And if you don’t do everything right, they’ll probably get you in the end.”
The non-conference loss ended an eight-game winning streak for the Storm. All three runs that Minot scored were unearned — not only because of the four errors Devils Lake committed, but an extra-runner rule that came into effect later on.
Will Heilman gave Devils Lake the first three innings on the mound. He’d gotten hit around for seven runs (four earned) in his last outing against the Vistas, which came in the first doubleheader of the summer season. But he threw three innings on 37 pitches this time around. He allowed just an unearned run on zero hits and zero walks while striking out one.
“Will’s gonna have to slide into a starting role next week, so we just tried to get him a 45-pitch bullpen,” Luehring said.
The only baserunner through the first two innings for either team was a Trason Beck infield hit. In the third, Max Palmer bobbled a ground ball at second base, leading to a run that scored on groundout. Minot grabbed the 1-0 lead despite not recording a hit against Heilman.
Lefty Taydon Triepke took over and gave Devils Lake the next two innings. He worked around a error by Beck, who was playing first base instead of catcher, with a 5-4-3 double play in the fourth. He set the Vistas down 1-2-3 in the fifth.
Triepke threw 23 pitches overall, with no hits or walks allowed. He struck out two.
Beck led off the bottom of the fourth with a single. At the time, Beck had the only two hits on either side. But Mason Palmer, a game after everything was falling for him, lined into an unlucky double play.
Ben Brodina hit a fortunate blooper in the fifth inning that fell on a miscommunication. The Storm batters were still having trouble squaring balls up consistently. They stranded two on base after a Hunter Remmick pinch-hit walk.
With Devils Lake still trailing 1-0 in the sixth, Brodina was the next pitcher in line. Shortstop Mason Palmer made an error behind him, but the Palmers turned a 4-6-3 double play to redeem themselves. Brodina worked around a two-out walk in the seventh to throw his second scoreless inning.
The Storm almost worked a two-out rally in the bottom of the seventh. Remmick singled and moved to second on a passed ball. Triepke did his job, lining a single to left field. But the Vistas executed a perfect relay to nab Remmick at the plate as the potential tying run.
Finally, in the eighth inning, the Devils Lake offense broke through. The first three batters of the frame reached base. A pickoff of Max Palmer disrupted the rally, but it was the red-hot Mason Palmer who came up clutch. He blooped one into center field for his second hit of the day and his eighth in his last three games.
The Storm tied it up, 1-1, but left two runners in scoring position.
Max Palmer was the final Devils Lake pitcher of the day. Ideally, he would have only had to throw the final two innings. Palmer ended up throwing five innings, with Devils Lake having no extra pitchers available. He eventually allowed the two winning runs — both unearned — while striking out six and walking one. He threw 68 pitches.
“The goal was to play nine, and you just get everybody two innings the rest of the way,” Luehring said. “But we had to extend Max out there, and he did a great job. He competed and mixed his stuff up and kept them off balance.”
Lakin Ronningen, freshly in the game in right field, dropped a fly ball but made an assist at second base to help Palmer throw a scoreless eighth. Palmer recorded his second strikeout in a perfect ninth — completing nine no-hit innings for the Storm.
But Devils Lake went down in quick 1-2-3 fashion in the bottom of the ninth. The game, which was already scheduled to be longer than normal, went to extra innings.
Deaver broke up the no-hitter in Palmer’s third inning of work. Each team stranded a baserunner as they rolled onto the 11th.
The MLB-inspired runner-on-second rule came into effect after 10 innings. Minot successfully bunted its runner to third in the 11th, but Palmer recorded a massive strikeout to keep the Vistas off the board.
Mason Palmer started the bottom of the 11th on second base, and Kraft bunted him over. But Ronningen hit a comebacker, as the Storm made no attempt to squeeze like they often do. With two outs and Tayven Wiberg batting, Palmer was thrown out trying to do a straight steal of home.
Ironically, Wiberg led off the bottom of the 12th with a roaring double to deep left field. But it was only after Minot scored two in the top of the 12th, getting a two-out hit and taking advantage of an error.
“We probably didn’t squeeze in that situation [in the 11th] just because of the situation of a non-conference game, trying to see if a kid [Wiberg] can drive a runner in, rather than just squeezing,” Luehring said. “But hindsight’s 20/20.”
Wiberg’s double made it a one-run game. He was stranded in scoring position, though, as Remmick, Triepke and Max Palmer made successive outs.
A wonky game concluded in a 3-2 victory for Minot.
Devils Lake returns to conference play next week on Tuesday in Casselton at 5:30 p.m. The Storm then host the West Fargo Vets on Wednesday.
