Hernandez dealing in Dust Devils’ series-opening victory
After a short-lived demotion to the Arizona League, Osvaldo Hernandez made the most of his return to the Tri-Cities on Friday night, giving up only an unearned run over six innings to lead the Dust Devils to a 3-1 win over the Hillsboro Hops in the opener of a five-game series at Gesa Stadium.
Hernandez (2-2), a 19-year-old lefty out of Havana, Cuba, last pitched for the Dust Devils (9-7 second half, 29-25 overall) July 24, making two starts for the San Diego Padres’ Arizona League squad in the meantime. He gave up four hits to get the win, and made his longest appearance in a Dust Devils uniform in his seventh start.
Kelvin Melean picked up Tri-City’s only RBI with a run-scoring ground out to third base in the bottom of the first that plated Robbie Podorsky, who went 2-for-4 on the day. Chandler Seagle scored on a wild pitch in the second, and Tyler Benson added a seventh-inning insurance run when he scored on a throwing error by the Hillsboro shortstop.
Mark Zimmerman set the Hops (8-8, 30-24) down in order in the ninth and recorded two strikeouts to pick up his first save of the season.
The victory tied the Dust Devils with the Spokane Indians at the top of the Northwest League North Division second-half standings.
Dust Devils 3, Hops 1
Hillsboro | AB | R | H | BI | BB | SO | Avg |
Duzenack ss | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .305 |
Araiza rf | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .225 |
Lara dh | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .320 |
Smith 1b | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .327 |
Ellis 3b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .232 |
Varsho c | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .321 |
Holmes cf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .210 |
Swain lf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .217 |
Dobson 2b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .258 |
Totals | 30 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
Dust Devils | AB | R | H | BI | BB | SO | Avg |
Podorsky lf | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .333 |
J.Lopez 2b-ss | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .256 |
Melean 3b | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | .238 |
Asuncion rf | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .273 |
Carter cf | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .249 |
Almanzar ss | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .234 |
Batten 2b | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .316 |
Aragon 1b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .208 |
Seagle c | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .225 |
Benson dh | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .296 |
Totals | 32 | 3 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
Hillsboro | 000 | 010 | 000 | – | 1 | 6 | 1 |
Dust Devils | 110 | 000 | 10x | – | 3 | 7 | 1 |
E–Duzenack (8); Aragon (1). LOB–Hillsboro 2; Dust Devils 6. 2B–Lara (1). RBIs–Melean (14). SB–Varsho (5) 2B; Benson (6) 2B. CS–Smith (1) 2B. RISP–Hillsboro 0-for-2; Dust Devils 1-for-7. Runners left in scoring position–Smith; J.Lopez 2; Aragon. GIDP–Smith. DP–Dust Devils 1.
Hillsboro | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | ERA |
Badamo L,0-1 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 5.93 |
Brill | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.00 |
Becker | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2.65 |
Dust Devils | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | ERA |
Hernandez W,2-2 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 3.81 |
Valdez H,1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4.30 |
Munoz H,3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4.58 |
Zimmerman S,1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1.80 |
GS–Badamo 59; Hernandez 71. Pitches-strikes–Badamo 82-61; Brill 23-15; Becker 13-9; Hernandez 83-57; Valdez 13-9; Munoz 8-7; Zimmerman 12-8. WP–Badamo 3.
T–2:33. A–2,712.
This story was originally published August 12, 2017 at 3:58 PM with the headline "Hernandez dealing in Dust Devils’ series-opening victory."