Allergic to Giesting’s Efforts, Dust Devils’ Win Streak Ends

The never say die Tri-City Dust Devils (15-19) again fought back late to bring the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the 9^th inning Wednesday afternoon, but the Hillsboro Hops (17-17) extinguished the home nine’s late threat for a 4-1 win at Gesa Stadium.

C Kevin Bruggeman, who hit a grand slam Saturday night in a major moment to tie a ballgame, came up after two hits, a throwing error and a walk brought home Tri-City’s first run of the day. Hillsboro, taking no chances, brought in closer Kyle Amendt, who induced a groundout to first to end the game and grab his third save by recording the final out.

Southpaw Spencer Giesting (2-2) put the Dust Devils behind the proverbial eight-ba quieting bats to the tune of nine strikeouts in seven scoreless innings. Giesting allowed only two hits in his outing, a 3^rd inning double off the left field wall by DH Caleb Pendleton and a 4^th inning infield hit by RF Jadiel Sanchez. The lefty had help from his defense as well, with both RF Gavin Conticello and 3B Kevin Sim making great plays to take away likely extra-base hits.

The game remained scoreless through the first four innings as Tri-City starter Chris Clark (0-4) held Hillsboro in check, allowing only one hit in those early frames. The Hops scored a pair of runs off him in the 5^th, though, adding one on a double steal rundown play in the 6^th. Clark allowed three runs on five hits in 5.2 innings, striking out six and walking two in coming an out shy of a quality start.

Jadiel Sanchez had the team’s only multi-hit game, going 2-for-4 with a hit as part of the 9^th inning rally. 2B Ben Gobbel, who singled in the 9^th to get things started for the Dust Devils, scored the team’s only run. In doing so, he extended three streaks: his hitting streak (five games), his run-scoring streak (seven games), and his on-base streak (nine games).

The series now tied at a game apiece, Tri-City and Hillsboro face off in game three of their six-game set at 6:30 p.m. Thursday night at Gesa Stadium, where it’s Dollar in Your Dog Night presented by Big 5 Sporting Goods. Fans enjoying a hot dog at the ballpark could find a carefully placed coupon inside the wrapper, redeemable for cash at the BNSF Information Station on the concourse. A total of $500 worth of coupons will be hidden in the hot dogs.

A duel of lefties has been scheduled, Erik Rivera (0-1, 5.79 ERA) for the Dust Devils and Avery Short (0-2, 2.77 ERA) for the Hops. Broadcast coverage of the game begins with the pregame show at 6:10 p.m, both here and with video coverage in the MiLB Zone of the Bally Live app and MiLB.tv.

Tickets for the Hillsboro series are on sale now, with special ticket rates available for groups of 20 or more. For more information on Dust Devils single game, season, mini-plan (11, 22, 33) and group tickets, visit the team’s official ticketing site, dustdevilsbaseball.com.