Another Comeback Win Gets Tri-City Split with Hillsboro

A 3-0 1^st inning deficit found the Tri-City Dust Devils (23-22) for a second straight game, and for a second straight game the visitors came back to grab the win in a 6-4 victory over the Hillsboro Hops (18-27) Sunday afternoon at Ron Tonkin Field that secured a series split.

Coming off a thrilling 12-9 comeback win over Hillsboro Saturday night, Tri-City looked as though they may be unlucky Sunday. Starter Bryce Osmond was hit on his throwing arm by a line drive with two outs in the bottom of the 1^st, sending him out of the game. Jose Salvador (1-2), who started Tuesday night, rushed into the game and warmed up but it took a bit to get comfortable.

The Hops took advantage of the discomfort and added to it, getting a three-run home run by SS Jesus Valdez to take their early lead. Salvador held the home side off the scoreboard through the 4^th inning, for which he was credited with his first win of the season.

It took until the 3^rd inning for the Dust Devils to get on the board. C Myles Emmerson hit a hard grounder skipping on the turf through the right side of the infield for a one-out single. He moved forward to third on consecutive walks issued to RF Joe Stewart and 2B Adrian Placencia by Hillsboro starter Eli Saul. 1B Gabe Matthews then hit a high fly ball to left field far enough for Emmerson to score his team’s first run of the game.

Tri-City trailed 3-1 with two outs in the 4^th inning. There they put together a three-run rally, starting with a long home run to right field by LF Gustavo Campero off Hops reliever Zach Barnes (1-1) to make it a 3-2 game. It was Campero’s fourth home run of the season, and his third at Ron Tonkin Field in 2023.

CF D’Shawn Knowles then came up and hit a grounder to shortstop. Valdez’s throw came in low and Hillsboro 1B Shane Muntz could not dig it out of the turf, a throwing error extending the inning. Emmerson then drew a walk, moving Knowles to second. The top of the order came back around, bringing Stewart to the plate. The Michigander singled to right, an RBI hit that plated Knowles and tied the game at 3-3 and moved Emmerson to third. The Dust Devils catcher then scored on a wild pitch to give Tri-City a 4-3 lead, their first of the game.

The visiting nine added another run in the 6^th inning, taking advantage of a mental miscue by the Hops. Campero led off the inning with a walk, stealing second to move into scoring position. Knowles then hit a grounder to the right side. Muntz made a diving stop to his right but reliever Jose Alcántara ended up out of position, not getting to the base until Knowles had reached on an infield hit. The Dust Devils then used their speed on the corners to execute a double steal, Campero sliding in past the tag attempt of Hillsboro C Ramses Malave to push the lead to 5-3.

The Hops would not make a series-splitting win easy, scoring in the bottom of the 6^th to come back within a run. Muntz followed a leadoff double by 3B Ivan Melendez with a deep ball to right field that fell in front of Stewart. Melendez scored to draw Hillsboro within a run at 5-4, but Muntz was thrown out at second by Stewart. Hillsboro manager Ronnie Gajownik argued the call, getting ejected by base umpire Garret Griffin following their conversation.

The bottom of the 7^th saw a rare baseball occurrence: a successful appeal play to a base. LF Jacen Roberson drew a leadoff walk to get aboard and the next man up, DH S.P. Chen, hit a high fly ball to deep center field off Tri-City reliever Houston Harding that Knowles caught just shy of the wall. Roberson, already past second base, returned to first. Following a pitching change the new hurler, Willian Suarez, stepped off and tossed the ball to second base. SS Osmy Gregorio caught the ball with his foot on the bag, and base umpire Griffin called Roberson out for not retagging second on his way back to first.

The strange 8-1-6 double play on appeal was the second of two Dust Devils double plays originating from the outfield. Stewart made a sliding catch on a ball hit by 2B Josh Day in the bottom of the 1^st, then popped up and fired to Matthews to catch Chen, who walked to lead off the inning, before he made it back to first for a 9-3 twin killing.

Tri-City added one more run in the 9^th inning. Emmerson drew a one-out walk and Stewart and Placencia singled behind him to load the bases. Hops righty Junior Mieses then threw a slider into the dirt and to the backstop with Matthews at the plate, and Emmerson sprinted home to score his third run of the game and push the lead to 6-4. All of the Dust Devils runs in the game were scored by the 7^th-9^th hitters in the order, with Campero (two runs) and Knowles (one run) joining Emmerson in hitting pay dirt.

Closer Nick Jones came in from there, pitching a 1-2-3 bottom of the 9^th to cinch both his third save of the year and his team’s third straight win. The victory put the Dust Devils back above .500 and kept them firmly positioned in the Northwest League First Half title race.

Tri-City returns home, after a Memorial Day off, for a six-game series with the Spokane Indians beginning at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday night at Gesa Stadium. It’s another Coca-Cola Tuesday at the ballpark, where 21 oz. Coke products are available for $2 all game long.

Broadcast coverage of the game begins with the pregame show at 6:10 p.m. both here and at the MiLB First Pitch app.

Tickets for the Spokane series, including the June 2-4 return of the Columbia River Rooster Tails, are on sale now. Also, special ticket rates are 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 dustdevilsbaseball.com, call the team office at (509) 544-8789, or visit the team office (10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on game nights, or Monday-Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. otherwise).