Tommy Troy's Four-Hit Game not Enough as Hops Fall to Devils 9-4

Hillsboro, OR (July 9, 2024) – The Hillsboro Hops and Tri-City Dust Devils met for the 19^th time in 2024 on Tuesday night at Hillsboro Ballpark. It was a sweltering hot night as both teams collected 10+ hits in the game despite being two of the three worst hitting teams in the NWL. Every batter in the Dust Devils’ lineup recorded a hit and Tommy Troy had his first four-hit game as a pro, but the Hops fell to Tri-City 9-4.

Walbert Ureña was the starter for the Dust Devils, but his outing was cut short as he exited the game after the second inning when he took a line drive off the foot. Ureña struck out three and allowed just two hits over the two scoreless innings.

Avery Short was on the bump for the Hops and came into the game as one of the most consistent starters in the league. He had pitched into the sixth inning in nine of his last ten games, but Tuesday was not his night. The Dust Devils tagged Short for six earned runs on seven base hits in the third inning when he was chased from the game. Caleb Ketchup and Will McGillis hit back-to-back home runs in the inning, with Adrian Placencia, Matt Coutney and Chad Stevens picking up RBI hits. Tri-City sent 11 to the plate and scored seven runs to take a 7-0 lead.

Hillsboro worked a pair of walks to start the third, but a double play off the bat of Troy ended the threat and kept Hillsboro off the scoreboard.

Junior Cerda was the first reliever called on out of the Hops pen and he walked the first two batters in the fourth, but he ended up striking out the next three batters to retire the side.

The Hops put together three straight innings of scoring at least one run in the fourth through sixth innings, brining them to within striking distance in the latter part of the game. Neyfy Castillo had a sacrifice fly that scored a run in the fourth, Tommy Troy an RBI single in the fifth and Jose Fernandez and Troy each added RBI singles in the sixth to make it 8-4.

Left-hander Dylan Phillips was dominant out of the Tri-City bullpen and almost completed one of the rarest accomplishments in baseball. Phillips was a strike away from an immaculate inning in the eighth, but Junior Franco fouled off an 0-2 pitch to spoil the hopes. Franco grounded out on the next pitch so despite not getting the perfect 9/9 inning, Phillips threw just 10 pitches and all 10 were strikes in the inning.

Tommy Troy had his first three-hit game of his professional career and then added to that in the ninth with his fourth hit of the game, making him 4-for-5 in the contest.

Hillsboro and Tri-City will play game-two of the six-game set tomorrow night at Hillsboro Ballpark. First pitch is at 7:05 with the pregame show starting at 6:50 on Rip City Radio 620 and Bally Live.