Dust Devils Halted in Hillsboro
A game tied midway through went sideways on the Tri-City Dust Devils (2-8) Tuesday night in Hillsboro, where the Hillsboro Hops (4-6) pulled away for an 8-1 win to open their six-game series at Hillsboro Ballpark. Tri-City tied the game in the top of the 5th inning after the Dust
A game tied midway through went sideways on the Tri-City Dust Devils (2-8) Tuesday night in Hillsboro, where the Hillsboro Hops (4-6) pulled away for an 8-1 win to open their six-game series at Hillsboro Ballpark.
Tri-City tied the game in the top of the 5th inning after the Dust Devils executed the hit-and-run to perfection. CF Werner Blakely, who laid down a bunt single toward third base to get on with one out, took off for second with C Kevin Bruggeman at the plate. Bruggeman then chopped a single through the vacated right side, with Blakely getting to third.
LF Jorge Ruiz came to the plate, getting a pitch from Hillsboro starter Billy Corcoran (1-0) and hitting a fly ball to right. Blakely tagged up and sprinted home, sliding in before the tag to tie the game at 1-1.
The Hops would respond in the bottom of the 5th by getting to Tri-City reliever Jenrry Gonzalez (0-1), who had extinguished a Hillsboro threat in the 3rd. The Hops scored three times to take a 4-1 lead, adding four more in the 6th to push the lead out to its final margin. Hillsboro LF Jack Hurley had a big night, driving in four runs via an RBI single in the 5th and a bases-clearing triple in the 6th.
The Dust Devils had seven hits on the evening with Werner Blakely, Kevin Bruggeman and RF Jadiel Sanchez turning in multi-hit nights. 1B Matt Coutney added a 7th inning single and, on the mound, reliever Quinton Martinez threw two scoreless innings in the 7th and 8th frames.
Tri-City dusts itself off and gets back to work for game two of the six-game set, scheduled for a 6:35 p.m. start at Hillsboro Ballpark. Right-hander Joel Hurtado (0-0, 1.69 ERA), who has turned in two good starts to begin 2024, takes the ball for the Dust Devils while a familiar foe, southpaw Spencer Giesting (0-1, 0.00 ERA), gets the start for the Hops.
Broadcast coverage of Wednesday night’s game will begin with the pregame show at 6:15 p.m. Tuesday night, both here and on the MiLB app.
After the series the Dust Devils will return home for a two-week homestand starting Tuesday, April 23, against the Everett AquaSox. Tickets for the homestand 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.