HILLSBORO – The Tri-City Dust Devils (33-30) gave themselves a chance to grab their second road weekend sweep of the season with comeback wins on Friday and Saturday at Hops Ballpark, but the Hillsboro Hops (30-33) claimed a 7-3 win Sunday afternoon to take the series four games to two.
The first Tri-City comeback came Friday night, with the team down 1-0 going to the top of the 6th inning. 3B Jake Munroe drew a one-out walk and reached second when 2B David Mershon’s fly ball to left-center deflected off an outfield glove for an error. RF Randy De Jesus followed with an RBI single to left to tie the game 1-1, and C Juan Flores’s RBI ground rule double to right-center gave the Dust Devils a 2-1 lead. De Jesus later scored on a wild pitch which also advanced Flores to third. 1B Kevin Bruggeman capped the inning by legging out an RBI fielder’s choice off a pitch from Hillsboro starter David Hagaman (1-3) to make it a 4-1 game. That ended up giving the win to starter Peyton Olejnik (3-5), who gave up the lone run on three hits in five innings of work. Flores added an RBI single in the 8th to close the scoring, and Sam Tookoian picked up his eighth save by getting the final three outs.
Saturday caused a bit of happier déjà vu, with Tri-City down 1-0 heading to the top of the 5th. LF Aaron Graeber started the inning with a single to left-center, Bruggeman walked and DH Adrian Placencia was hit by a pitch from Hops starter Rio Britton (2-3) to load the bases with no one out. That brought up 2B Johan Macias, who swatted a ball through the wind just over the left field wall for the team’s second grand slam of the season. The Dust Devils led 4-1 at that point, getting another run in the 6th inning. Flores doubled to start the inning, and substitute LF Jorge Ruiz laid down a sacrifice bunt to move him to third. That brought Bruggeman back to the plate, who laid down a squeeze bunt to the right side that scored Flores and took the lead to 5-1. Bruggeman drove in a second run in the 8th inning, following a Ruiz double with an RBI single to right. Reliever Max Gieg (3-0) went 3.1 scoreless innings for the win, striking out a pair and covering the middle innings.
The visitors tried for a third comeback win Sunday, falling behind 3-0 going to the top of the 5th. A one-out single by Ruiz started a three-run rally aided by both the Hops and the sun. Munroe singled on the infield to put runners at first and second with one out, bringing up DH Matt Coutney with Hillsboro starter Brian Curley (3-2) on the mound. The lefty topped a soft grounder to the right side, where Hops 2B Jose Mejia raced in to grab it. Mejia then shoveled the ball with his glove wide of first, with it bouncing into the Dust Devils dugout. The error scored Ruiz, moving Munroe to third and Coutney to second to put two in scoring position. That brought up De Jesus, who hit a high pop-up to the right side. Mejia looked up toward the high sun and could not find it, with it landing to his left for a sun-aided two-run double that tied the game at 3-3. The home side answered quickly, though, with major leaguer Max Kepler lacing a two-run single off Tri-City reliever Luke Cooper (0-1) to retake the lead 5-3 in the 5th and adding two more in the 6th. The Dust Devils had chances, including with the bases loaded and one out in the 7th, but could not get closer.
EUGENE, THE SECOND HALF IN SIGHT
Tri-City comes home to Gesa Stadium to host the 2026 Northwest League First Half champions, the Eugene Emeralds, for a six-game series that both closes the half and begins the Second Half. The series begins Tuesday, June 16 and continues through Father’s Day on Sunday, June 21. All games will begin at 7:05 p.m. with pitching matchups yet to be announced.
Free broadcast coverage on the MiLB app and dustdevilsbaseball.com will begin with the Dust Devils Pregame Show, starting all week at 6:45 p.m. Fans can also watch the games for free on Bally Sports Live, and via subscription on MLB.tv and the MiLB app.
Much fun lies in store for the series including another drone show on Friday, June 19, as well as a 25th Season Hat Giveaway on Saturday, June 20. For tickets to the Eugene series, as well as all 2026 Dust Devils home games, visit the official ticket site, dustdevilsbaseball.com.