Saturday, Aug. 29, 2009

Dust Devils set in Yakima with 7th straight win

By the Herald staff

YAKIMA -- Tim Wheeler hit his first professional grand slam as the Tri-City Dust Devils defeated the Yakima Bears 7-1 on Friday at County Stadium in Yakima for a team-record seventh consecutive victory.

It was the second home run in as many nights and fourth of the season for Wheeler, a first-round draft pick by the Colorado Rockies.

The Dust Devils (41-26), which return to Gesa Stadium to begin a three-game series with Boise today at 7:15 p.m., maintained their seven-game lead over Spokane (34-33) and narrowed their magic number to clinch the East Division down to three games.

Tri-City starter Wes Musick (2-0) tossed six innings, allowing just four hits and one earned run. The Dust Devils hammered out six runs in just 11/3 innings against Bears starter Brad Wilson (2-2), who walked six.

Jeremiah Sammy went 3-for-3 for Tri-City with two doubles.