Brendon Davis doubled home Livan Soto in the fifth to tie the game and then scored to take the lead. With that, the Tri City Dust Devils shifted gears and left the Hillsboro Hops behind in their Dust, 8-3.

Game Started Tight

Up until that time, the game stayed tight and under control with two starting pitchers throwing 99 pitches each.  Game winner Zach Linginfelter (W,1-5) gained his first win of the season by lasting through the sixth inning.  It was long enough for Brendon Davis to tie the game and take back the lead with his bat and base running. It enabled Zach to be able to leave the game with a 4-3 lead and a chance to hold on for the win.

With the help of the relief staff, the Dust Devils blanked the Hops the rest of the way and handed Zach the win.  Kolton Ingram (H, 3) struck out three of his seven batters over two innings.  Then,Tyler Smith closed out the ninth,striking out two of his three batters.  Overall, the two combined for only one batter over the minimum faced.  However, the lead had grown too large for Smith to earn the save.

Brandon Pfaadt (L, 1-2) lasted the minimum five innings to qualify for the win.  Unfortunately, that was one half inning too late as he gave up the Brendon Davis RBI double in the fifth and left with the score 4-3, Dust Devils.  The Hops’ batters were unable to score another run after that to take Pfaadt off the hook.  Kyler Stout, Nick Snyder and Tyler Jones combined to allow four more runs to make the final score 8-3.

Brendon Davis, Dust Devils Catch Up

Before the fifth inning, the Dust Devil offense came in extra base spurts surrounded by strikeouts, ground outs and fly outs.  Amidst all of that, Livan Soto (game#1’s hero) doubled in the first and scored on Jordyn Adams’ RBI single to tie the game.  Then, Brendon Davis homered in answer to the Hops’ Andy Yerzy’s homer in the top of the inning.  Again, to tie the score.  For the home team, scoring meant catching up.

Brendon Davis, Dust Devil Bats Shift Gears.

Until the fifth.  Then the Dust Devils’ offense meant taking the lead and never looking back.  As mentioned previously, Brendon Davis doubled to tie the game and then scored to take the lead.  That was only the beginning of leaving the Hops behind in their dust.

After that point, the Dust Devils never failed to score at least one run in an inning.  All the while, with the Dust Devil pitching holding the Hops scoreless.  Kyle Kasser walked and scored on Keinner Pina’s RBI double in the sixth.  With one out on the seventh, Brendan Davis and Jordyn Adams walked and scored on the Hops’ catcher Axel Andueza’s passed ball and Adrian Rondon’s RBI single.

Finally, Spencer Griffin hit Tri City’s second homer of the night for the ending score.  There was no need to show up in the ninth.  The game was already won.  Game over.

Hillsboro Hops Done by Fifth

For the Hops, their scoring was pretty much over by the halfway point of the game.  In the first, Jorge Barrosa walked and scored on Axel Andueza’s RBI groundout to first.  Andy Yerzy homered his team leading seventh home run of the season in the third.  And, in the fifth, Dom Canzone walked, stole second, took third on the Dust Devil’s catcher Keinner Pina’s errant throw to second and scored on Andy Yerzy’s RBI single.

Standings

The win helped the Tri City Dust Devils (20-36) maintain their distance from first place as leader Everett won for the second game in a row.  But, the Dust Devils did gain a game on the team above them, the Hillsboro Hops (23-32), and are now back to three and a half games behind their current visitors.  The loss dropped the Hops to 13 games behind Everett.  Both teams meet again Friday night for game#4 of the series.  The Dust Devils took the series lead back, 2-1.

Also, you can listen to the game on 620 AM radio.  Meanwhile, read about Andy Yerzy’s first game back with the Hops on May 20th of this year.  Consequently, Andy went 2 for 4 in his return as the hero of the game five walk off winner in the championship series of 2019.

Box Score

By

Greg Stoker

@GDStoker