NWL notes: King makes the call again

Tri-City Dust Devils broadcaster Chris King had been there before, but it was still just as sweet.
When the Class A Short Season affiliate of the Padres twirled a four-pitcher no-hitter on June 29 in a 5-0 win over Everett, King had a sense early on the night would be pretty special.
He ought to, since he'd seen this one before.

It was the second no-hitter King has called for the Dust Devils since joining the club in 2012. He was on the mic for a no-hitter against Salem-Keizer in 2013, and like a good broadcaster, he was prepared for another one.
"I started mentioning a no-hitter casually around the fourth or fifth inning," he said. "As the game went on, and the anticipation started to brew, I was able to pull up my notes from 2013 and I filled in some context."
King, for good reason, doesn't buy into the jinx theory that causes fans to keep a tight lip about a no-no. His job is to give listeners the most accurate information about the game and to paint a picture with his words. Telling folks the Dust Devils are no-hitting a team is a huge part of that, and listeners have to hear it. It's something that King says takes a little savvy and feel to do right.

"It's an interesting thing to figure out when you can start saying it," King said. "When do you start beating that drum? There's just so much build up to something like that."
Both no-hitters King has under his belt featured four pitchers and came after a loss. The 2013 gem came after the Dust Devils allowed 17 hits to the Volcanoes in a 10-7 defeat, and the most recent no-no followed a 9-4 loss to the AquaSox that featured a 6-run second inning.
Jason Blanchard, Ramon Perez, Dominic DiSabatino and Deacon Medders combined to throw the 110-pitch feat.
With almost all no-hitters in baseball, there is typically a big defensive play that stands out and keeps everything intact. King described a play by third baseman Kelvin Melean as the play that saved the ninth no-hitter in Tri-City history.
Everett's Robert Perez hit a screaming ground ball down the third-base line. Melean laid out for the hot shot, snared it, got to his feet and fired it to first for the third out of the seventh inning.
"Our HitTrax system said the exit velocity was 109 mph," King said. "It was hit very hard."
Perhaps the coolest part of the night, King said, was going down to the locker room after the game.
"Everyone was just so giddy," King said. "It was so much fun to experience the energy in the clubhouse."
While King was trying to round up the no-hit quartet for a photo back on the field, pitching coach Leo Rosales suggested someone else get in on the photo too -- catcher Jonny Homza.
"I said, 'Absolutely,'" King recalled.

Dust Devils pitching staffs tend to generate punchouts at a high rate. The team set the Northwest League record for strikeouts in a season in 2017 with 764, led the league last year and are set to obliterate the 2017 record if things keep going the way they are this season. King said they are on pace for around 900 K's this year, and he said the combination of power arms and trends in hitting work in the club's favor.
"We have a few position guys that were drafted as pitchers because they throw so hard," King said. "It's a trend in baseball, too. Strikeouts are up. Sometimes you see them early in [short-season] ball like this, and you can definitely see it over the past three years."
For King, he's got his no-hitter calls dialed in. With the way the Dust Devils have been pitching this season, maybe he'll get another one. After all, Tri-City has the most no-hitters of any Northwest League city, and its 10th might be close.
But would King rather have another exciting moment to call?
"I've never called a walk-off home run before," he said. "That would be cool."

In brief

Hops hurlers best in ERA so far: The Hillsboro Hops, led by fireballer Luis Frias, lead the Northwest League with a 2.48 ERA. Frias, whose fastball can reach 96 mph, has struck out 37 batters in 25 innings to lead the loop. He holds a 1.80 ERA, which is third in the league. Teammate Deyni Olivero is second with a 0.89 ERA, trailing Boise's Frederis Parra at 0.72.
Volcanoes erupting with molten-hot dingers: Simply put, Salem-Keizer crushes the ball. Between Franklin Labour, Tyler Flores and Ricardo Genoves, the trio leading the league in homers, they've hit 23 homers. Labour leads the pack with 11, Flores has seven and Genoves checks in with five. As a team, the Volcanoes have 30 -- almost twice as many as Everett with 16, the next best home-run-hitting team in the league.