Big Inning Dooms Tri-City in Series-Closing Loss to Hillsboro
A close contest on a Father’s Day Sunday afternoon between the Tri-City Dust Devils (25-36) and the Hillsboro Hops (32-29) went sideways on the visitors, with homestanding Hillsboro cruising to a 17-4 win over Tri-City at Hillsboro Ballpark to close the team’s six-game series. SS Chad Stevens hammered his first
A close contest on a Father’s Day Sunday afternoon between the Tri-City Dust Devils (25-36) and the Hillsboro Hops (32-29) went sideways on the visitors, with homestanding Hillsboro cruising to a 17-4 win over Tri-City at Hillsboro Ballpark to close the team’s six-game series.
SS Chad Stevens hammered his first home run for the Dust Devils in the top of the 2nd inning. The Fox Island, Washington native and former University of Portland infielder sent a fly ball over the left field wall to tie the game at 1-1 not far from his alma mater.
The Hops and Dust Devils would stay tied to the bottom of the 4th inning by that score, but they did not leave that way. Hillsboro scored 12 runs on nine hits in the frame, chasing starter Chris Clark (1-6) and sending 18 men to the plate in the inning. The first six batters reached by hit, with ultimately ten in a row reaching base before Tri-City could record an out.
3B Cam Williams got a couple of runs back in the top of the 5th, hitting an opposite field two-run homer out to left off a pitch from Hops starter Joe Elbis (5-1). Williams’s fourth home run of 2024 made it at the time a 13-3 game, and he would bring in another with an RBI single in the 7th to close out the Dust Devils’ scoring. Williams went 2-for-4 with three RBI on the day, and CF Werner Blakely matched him in the multi-hit game department.
Also, lefty reliever Dylan Phillips threw a scoreless inning relief out of the bullpen to keep things moving.
Tri-City now heads home to take on the Vancouver Canadians for a seven-game, six-day series beginning with a doubleheader of seven-inning games starting at 4:15 p.m. Tuesday, June 18, at Gesa Stadium. The series will bring the first half of the schedule to a close and get the second half underway, with the records and standings resetting in the Northwest League on Friday.
Right-hander Ryan Costeiu (0-2, 3.24 ERA) gets the game one start for the Dust Devils Tuesday afternoon, with game two’s starter yet to be announced. Broadcast coverage of Tuesday’s twin-bill begins with the pregame show at 3:55 p.m. both here and on the MiLB app, with video coverage on Bally Live and MiLB.tv.
Tickets for the Vancouver series are on sale now, including for Erik The Peanut Guy Sock Night on Friday, June 21, 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.