For the second night in a row, the Hillsboro Hops bats remained hot, defeating the Tri-City Dust Devils 10-2. Ryne Nelson continued his dominant start to the season, earning his third win. Buddy Kennedy homered for the second straight night to spark a five-run first inning for the Hops. Nick
For the second night in a row, the Hillsboro Hops bats remained hot, defeating the Tri-City Dust Devils 10-2. Ryne Nelson continued his dominant start to the season, earning his third win. Buddy Kennedy homered for the second straight night to spark a five-run first inning for the Hops. Nick Dalesandro and Ricky Martinez also homered in the contest.
Nelson started out a little shaky in the top of the first, walking Livan Soto and then allowing him to advance to second base on a wild pitch. Neslon responded with back-to-back strike outs, but allowed a two-out RBI double to Francisco Del Valle to put the Dust Devils up 1-0.
The Tri-City lead lasted just a moment as Kennedy led off the bottom of the first with a home run to left field. Blaze Alexander followed with a triple (his second in the past two games) and was driven in on a sacrifice fly by Eduardo Diaz to put the Hops up 2-1. Dust Devils starter Brent Killam continued to struggle, drilling Tristin English with one out. Killam attempted to pick off English and threw the ball away, allowing English to reach second base. Dominic Canzone scorched a line drive RBI single and advanced to second base when English was attempted to be thrown out at home. Reece Hampton delivered the final blow of Killam's night with an RBI single to right field to bring in Canzone. Killam's night was over after recording just two outs. The Hops added a final run in the inning on an RBI single by Martinez.
Nelson cruised through the rest of his start, only allowing one hit over four shutout innings. The righty finished with five innings pitched and eight punch outs, while only allowing one walk and one earned run. Wesley Rodriguez took over and pitched the Hops through the sixth and seventh innings. The Dust Devils added a run in the top of the sixth inning to put the score to 5-2.
Hillsboro continued to pummel Tri-Cities pitching with four more runs in the bottom of the sixth. Hampton led off with a walk and stole second base. Dalesandro followed with a rare inside the park home run on a ball that got lost in the field lights in deep right-center field. The Dust Devils fielding woes continued as high fly balls continued to find their way to the ground. With two outs, Andy Yerzy popped up to left fielder Drevian Williams-Nelson who could not come up with it, allowing Kennedy and Alexander to score. In the bottom of the eighth, Martinez drove in the Hops tenth and final run on his first home run of the season. Julio Frias preserved the Hops lead with two shutout innings to close the game.
Hillsboro (15-16) and Tri-City (10-22) face off again tomorrow at 1:05 pm. Catch all the action on Rip City Radio 620 AM with pregame coverage beginning at 12:50 pm.
