Early offense, back-end pitching lift Dust Devils to series finale win over Hawks

Justin Lopez ripped a go-ahead, two-run double in the top of the fourth as part of his 2-for-4 day, and the Tri-City Dust Devils pitching staff locked it down from there Thursday to top the host Boise Hawks 8-5 in a back-and-forth series finale.

Trailing the Vancouver Canadians by a game in the Northwest League North Division, the Dust Devils (17-17) return home for five games against the Eugene Emeralds — beginning Thursday — then three against Vancouver — Tuesday.

Tri-City jumped out to a big lead with four runs in the top of the first, but quickly gave it back when Hidekel Gonzalez hit a grand slam to cap Boise’s five-run bottom of the second.

Luis Anguizola — who went 3-for-4 — tied it back up with an RBI ground-rule double in the third, then the Dust Devils piled on the game’s final three runs in the fourth.

Despite being on the hook for all five of Boise’s runs (three earned), Ben Scheckler (1-1) picked up the win for dealing five innings of six-hit ball. Alex Cunningham and Fred Schlichtholz each fired two innings of scoreless relief to pick up a hold and save, respectively.

This story was originally published July 20, 2017 at 5:44 PM with the headline "Early offense, back-end pitching lift Dust Devils to series finale win over Hawks."