HILLSBORO – The brand-new confines of Hops Ballpark continued to prove unfriendly for the Tri-City Dust Devils (31-29) Thursday night, with the homestanding Hillsboro Hops (29-31) shutting out the visitors 2-0 to claim their third straight game of the week.
Tri-City received the best performance in nearly two months from starter Yeferson Vargas (3-4), who went five-plus innings and allowed two runs on six hits while striking out six and walking only one. The righty gave up a run on three singles in the first innings and walked the leadoff man of the 6th inning, who later came in to score on a two-out hit.
The best threat for the Dust Devils came in the top of the 6th inning, where SS Capri Ortiz led off the inning with a sharp single and then stole second with a mid-run juke move after initially getting picked off. Ortiz got to third with two out, but Hillsboro starter Wellington Aracena (1-0) stranded him there to complete six shutout innings.
3B Johan Macias and LF Jorge Ruiz added singles, with Tri-City unable to swat an extra-base hit in the ballgame. Outside of Ortiz, no runner got further than second for the Dust Devils on the night.
Relievers Luke Cooper (1 IP) and Benny Thompson (2 scoreless IP) covered the remainder for the visitors, who look to pull off their second road weekend sweep to split the six-game set.
A NEW DAY
Tri-City and Hillsboro play game four of their six-game series at 6:35 p.m. Friday night at Hops Ballpark. Right-hander Peyton Olejnik (2-5, 5.48 ERA), who struck out a career-high nine in winning his last start, gets the ball for the Dust Devils. The Hops will send right-hander David Hagaman (1-2, 4.32 ERA) to the mound.
Free broadcast coverage on the MiLB app and dustdevilsbaseball.com will begin with the Dust Devils Pregame Show at 6:15 p.m. Fans can also watch the games for free (Hillsboro broadcast) on Bally Sports Live, and via subscription on MLB.tv and the MiLB app.
Tri-City comes back home both to finish up the First Half and begin the Second Half in taking on the Eugene Emeralds for six games beginning on a Coca-Cola Tuesday, June 16 at 7:05 p.m. at Gesa Stadium. For tickets to the Eugene series, as well as to all 2026 Dust Devils home games, visit the official ticket site, dustdevilsbaseball.com.
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Wednesday: Hillsboro 2, Tri-City 1
Starter Lucas Knowles threw seven strong innings and C Juan Flores launched a long solo home run to tie the game late, but the Tri-City Dust Devils (31-28) found themselves stymied offensively by the Hillsboro Hops (28-31) in a 2-1 walk-off win for the home side at Hops Ballpark.
Knowles went toe-to-toe with a combo of Hillsboro starter Patrick Forbes and reliever Kyle Ayers, giving up only two hits in his first five innings and then erasing both runners via a double play and a pickoff. The western Washington native struck out six in his longest outing as a Dust Devil, giving up his lone run on an infield single in the bottom of the 6th after a cue shot double and a sacrifice bunt put a runner at third.
The Hops led 1-0 going to the 7th inning, in which Flores came to the plate with one out. The Tri-City catcher smashed a pitch over the left field wall and out to the parking lot, tying the game at 1-1 via his ninth home run of the year. The Dust Devils threatened in the 9th inning, putting two runners on with one out and Hillsboro reliever Nick Savino (3-2) on the mound, but they could not score and the game went to the bottom of the 9th tied.
Closer Sam Tookoian (0-1) came in to try to get the game to extra innings, but the Hops found a bloop single and a bunt hit to put two on. Tri-City then ran a play on a second sac bunt attempt to try to get the lead runner, but the throw from substitute 1B Kevin Bruggeman pulled a covering SS Capri Ortiz off the bag at third. Hillsboro SS Kayson Cunningham came up with the bases loaded and hit a ball to the mound which Tookoian knocked down. His throw home, though, could not catch the winning run at the plate and the Hops took their second straight to open the series.