Sunday, Aug. 09, 2009

Tri-City continues mastery of Spokane

By Jack Millikin, Herald staff writer

Two weeks have passed since the Tri-City Dust Devils last faced the Spokane Indians.

The Dust Devils took five of the first six games of the season-long Northwest League series against their Highway 395 rivals.

The Indians, however, hoped to turn things around in Pasco after winning eight of its last 10 against the West Division.

But Tri-City (29-19) continued its hold over Spokane (21-27) and its dominance over the East Division with a 9-2 win Saturday at Gesa Stadium. The Dust Devils pushed their lead in the East to eight games.

"We can't really pay attention to the other teams," said Dust Devils second baseman Jeremiah Sammy, who led a season-high 18-hit attack for Tri-City, going 4-for-5 with two RBIs and two runs scored.

"We're just trying to win games, we're not trying to change anything," he added. "Today was a big game. Everybody was trying to have a good approach at the plate."

For just the second time this year, Tri-City had six players -- Kevin Clark, Kent Matthes, Sammy, Dallas Tarleton, Tim Wheeler and Joey Wong -- with multi-hit games. Three of those players -- Sammy, Tarleton and Wheeler -- had at least three hits.

"It's about time," said a smiling Tarleton, whose parents were in town from Indian Trail, N.C., to watch him score two runs and make two impressive catches in foul territory from his catcher position. "It was their last day here, so it was nice to have a good performance before they leave."

Tri-City scored two runs in the first and added single runs in the second and third before exploding for a five-run fourth inning -- highlighted by Ben Paulsen's two-run single to left -- for a 9-0 lead.

"It's very important any time you can set the tone early," said Clark, who finished 2-for-3 with a pair of RBIs. "We have a really good team with a lot of established hitters."

Dust Devils starter Josh Hungerman tossed four innings of shutout ball but allowed a run in the fifth inning.

Hungerman, a 17th-round pick out of Cleveland State, left with one out in the fifth inning after throwing No. 73 of a 75-pitch count. As a result, the left-hander is still looking for his first professional victory.

The win went to Brad McAtee (1-3), who allowed a run on two hits in 22/3 innings. Rhett Ballard tossed two scoreless innings in mop-up relief.