Hops Make Quick Wort of Dust Devils
A quick burst of runs provided the Hillsboro Hops (16-24) all the offense they would need, with three pitchers combining to shut out the Tri-City Dust Devils (20-20) by a score of 5-0 Tuesday night at Ron Tonkin Field. The Dust Devils were held to three hits on the night,
A quick burst of runs provided the Hillsboro Hops (16-24) all the offense they would need, with three pitchers combining to shut out the Tri-City Dust Devils (20-20) by a score of 5-0 Tuesday night at Ron Tonkin Field.
The Dust Devils were held to three hits on the night, two by CF D’Shawn Knowles. LF Joe Stewart beat a throw on a deep grounder for an infield single in the 9th, but the visiting nine’s bats were otherwise quieted.
The homestanding Hops slugged their way in front in their first at-bat, getting to Tri-City starter Jose Salvador (0-2). 3B Ivan Melendez followed a leadoff double by RF Channy Ortiz with a ball socked over the left field fence for a 2-run home run. DH J.J. D’Orazio followed with a blast over the fence in left-center field, staking the Hops to a 3-0 lead through an inning.
Salvador settled in from there, allowing a run in the 3rd on a sacrifice fly by Melendez and another in the 5th, coming home on a double play ball. Relievers Nathan Burns and Jake Smith combined from there to hold Hillsboro scoreless the final three innings.
Every time the Dust Devils attempted to mount a charge, Hops pitchers and fielders found a way to cut it off. Starter Yilber Diaz began the game by striking out the first six Tri-City batters he faced. Knowles drew a walk in the 3rd to become the first Dust Devils baserunner.
Stewart came up with two out and Knowles at 3rd in the same inning and hit a high fly ball to deep right. Ortiz caught it on the warning track, though, ending the inning. DH Werner Blakely had a hit in the 4th taken away on a diving catch by Hillsboro CF Brett Johnson, and groundball double plays induced by reliever Jose Alcántara (3-2) ended run-scoring opportunities in the 6th and 7th.
Knowles got to third again with a two-out triple off hurler Zach Barnes in the 8th, but another groundball out got the Hops out of trouble. Tri-City put together one final attempt to dent the scoreboard in the 9th but Barnes got consecutive flyouts to complete the shutout, played in just two hours and one minute.
The Dust Devils will look to even their series with Hillsboro in game two of their six-game series, scheduled for 6:35 p.m. Wednesday night at Ron Tonkin Field. Right-hander Connor Van Scoyoc (2-2, 3.41 ERA) gets the nod for Tri-City, and southpaw Avery Short (1-2, 4.50 ERA) the same for the Hops. Broadcast coverage of the game begins with the pregame show at 6:15 p.m. both here and at the MiLB First Pitch app.
Tri-City and Hillsboro will play 6:35 p.m. games both Thursday and Friday, while Saturday’s game is scheduled for a 4:05 p.m. start and a 1:05 p.m. Sunday matinee closes the series. The Dust Devils will then return home for a six-game series with the Spokane Indians from May 30-June 4.
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).