Tri-City's Vessella dominant vs. Aberdeen

Thomas Vessella took a no-hitter into the seventh inning as Tri-City edged visiting Aberdeen, 2-1, on Monday.

Vessella (2-6) retired the first 12 batters he faced until plunking Anthony Martinez with a pitch to lead off the fifth. The 21-year-old also walked one before Wally Crancer broke up the no-hit bid by stroking a single with two outs in the seventh. He struck out six and departed after tossing a career-high seven scoreless innings.

"I thought there were days when the ball came out of my hand better," said Vessella, who hadn't won since he gave up two hits in six scoreless innings against Batavia on July 17. "My approach was to just go out there and get outs."

Though Vessella altered his pre-game routine by heading to the movies to see Jet Li's War prior to the game, he isn't planning to do so in the future.

"I'm trying not to get too into superstition," he said. "I didn't change my routine at the ballpark. It's not like I woke up and had lightning coming out of my arm. The ball just bounced my way."

The southpaw, who tossed the ValleyCats' longest outing of the year, said he's looking forward to building on the stellar performance in his final two starts.

"My season has been full of ups and downs all over the place," said Vessella. "I'm going to take this and keep going."

Tri-City reliever Jason Dominguez surrendered a run on two hits with two strikeouts in the final two innings for his 10th save.

Collin DeLome smacked a solo homer, his sixth, in the fourth and Matthew Cusick went 4-for-4 for Tri-City (22-41). Brandon Barnes added a run-scoring double in the sixth.

IronBirds starter Aubrey Miller (1-5) gave up two runs on five hits and two walks while fanning a career-high eight in seven frames.

Brian Bent's RBI groundout in the eighth accounted for the run for Aberdeen (29-36).