Benson’s walk-off leads Dust Devils to victory over Hops
Tyler Benson laced a line drive to right field in the bottom of the ninth to plate Jalen Washington for the walk-off run Sunday night in the Tri-City Dust Devils’ 5-4 win over the Hillsboro Hops in the middle fixture of a five-game series at Gesa Stadium.
Benson — the San Diego Padres’ 31st-round pick in this year’s MLB Draft — also led off the bottom of the first with a double to right and scored on a passed ball after Luis Asuncion drew a walk. Asuncion hit a solo homer in the fourth inning and Chris Mattison did the same in the seventh — the fourth dinger of the year for each.
Nick Margevicius left the game for Tri-City with a 3-1 lead after giving up four hits and striking out four over five innings. But Elias Torres surrendered a two-run homer to Tra’Mayne Holmes in the sixth to level the score.
Hillsboro (9-9 second half, 31-25 overall) matched Mattison’s seventh-inning home run with a run in the eighth. Washington and Josh Magee led off the bottom of the ninth with walks, which set up Benson’s game-winning hit with no outs.
Tri-City (10-8, 30-26) remained tied atop the Northwest League North Division second-half standings with the first-half champ Vancouver Canadians after the win. The Dust Devils wrap up their series with the Hops on Tuesday, then hit the road for four games against the Everett AquaSox beginning Wednesday.
Dust Devils 5, Hops 4
Hillsboro | AB | R | H | BI | BB | SO | Avg |
Duzenack ss | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .296 |
Araiza rf | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .219 |
Lara 1b | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .281 |
Smith dh | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .333 |
Susnara c | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .217 |
Grotjohn 3b | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | .259 |
Holmes cf | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | .214 |
Co.Owings 2b | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .194 |
J.Perez lf | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .200 |
Totals | 32 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 8 |
Dust Devils | AB | R | H | BI | BB | SO | Avg |
Benson lf | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .324 |
J.Lopez ss | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .248 |
Melean 2b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .234 |
Asuncion rf | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | .281 |
Carter dh | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .250 |
Almanzar 3b | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .230 |
Mattison 1b | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .214 |
Washington c | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | .155 |
Magee cf | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .208 |
Totals | 28 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 8 | 11 |
Hillsboro | 000 | 102 | 010 | – | 4 | 6 | 0 |
Dust Devils | 101 | 100 | 101 | – | 5 | 5 | 0 |
LOB–Hillsboro 7; Dust Devils 8. 2B–Grotjohn (6); Benson (2). 3B–Smith (2). HR–Holmes (3) off Torres; Asuncion (4) off Keele. RBIs–Grotjohn 2 (15); Holmes 2 (19); J.Lopez (17); Asuncion (24); Mattison (15); Benson (3). SB–Carter (11) 2B. SF–Grotjohn; J.Lopez. RISP–Hillsboro 2-for-9; Dust Devils 1-for-12. Runners left in scoring position–Co.Owings; Holmes; Lara; Washington; Melean; Mattison 2.
Hillsboro | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | ERA |
Keele | 5 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 3.69 |
Torres | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4.26 |
Ginkel | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 4.43 |
Becker L,0-2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3.00 |
Dust Devils | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | ERA |
Margevicius | 5 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1.80 |
E.Torres | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 5.63 |
Rogers | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8.44 |
Megill W,2-0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.75 |
Ginkel pitched to 3 batters in the 8th. Becker pitched to 3 batters in the 9th.
GS–Keele 50; Margevicius 61. HBP–Co.Owings (Margevicius). Pitches-strikes–Keele 85-47; Torres 23-16; Ginkel 14-3; Becker 25-10; Margevicius 72-49; E.Torres 22-13; Rogers 34-16; Megill 10-7. WP–Ginkel; Becker 2; Margevicius. IBB–Asuncion (Ginkel). Inherited runners-scored–Becker 3-0.
T–2:59. A–1,512.
This story was originally published August 14, 2017 at 4:02 PM with the headline "Benson’s walk-off leads Dust Devils to victory over Hops."