De La Cruz powers Dust Devils past Hawks
Dust Devils manager Ben Fritz was looking for an offensive spark from his team after a fairly bland 4-4 home stand, and he got it Friday night as Tri-City smashed six extra-base hits to power its way to a 5-3 series-opening against the Boise Hawks at Memorial Stadium.
Wilfri De La Cruz hit his first professional home run in the fifth, a solo shot to left, to put the Dust Devils (6-9) up 3-1, and then drove in Josh Magee with a two-out double in the seventh to make it 4-1.
Joey Lucchesi continued the trend of near perfect Dust Devils starting pitching, giving up three hits and striking out six over his 3 inning, shutout stint. Lucchesi has not allowed a run in his last four starts — totaling 13 innings — and has lowered his ERA to 1.80.
Braxton Lorenzini (3-3) picked up the win by giving up one run on two hits in 3 innings of relief work.
Wesley Jones had a couple of knocks for the Hawks (6-9), including a leadoff single in Boise’s two-run bottom of the seventh. He also drove in Jacob Bosiokovich in the fourth with a sacrifice fly that was caught in foul territory by first baseman G.K. Young.
The Dust Devils and Hawks will continue their five-game series at 6:15 p.m. Saturday, with Tri-City’s Will Headean (LHP, 2-4, 4.47 ERA) expected to face Kyle Cedotal (LHP, 1-0, 3.20 ERA).
Dust Devils 5, Hawks 3
Tri-City ab | r | h | bi | Boise ab | r | h | bi | ||
Reed cf | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | Linkous cf | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
-Easley lf | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Orris 2b | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
White 3b | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Hampson ss | 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
Baker ss | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Bosikvich 1b | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
Young 1b | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | W.Abreu dh | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Overstrt 2b | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | W.Jones 3b | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
Asuncion rf | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | Toole lf | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
Magee lf | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | Jimenez c | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
DeLeon dh | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | Suero rf | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
D.L.Cruz c | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | |||||
Totals 36 | 5 | 10 | 5 | Totals 34 | 3 | 10 | 3 | ||
Tri-City | 110 | 010 | 110 | — | 5 |
Boise | 000 | 100 | 200 | — | 3 |
E—Lucchesi (1), Hampson (15). PB—Jimenez (9). LOB—Tri-City 4, Boise 11. 2B—Reed (4), Asuncion (6), De La Cruz (1), Baker (10), Young (4), Bosiokovic (16). HR—De La Cruz (1). SF—W. Jones. SB—DeLeon (1), Magee (2). CS—Reed (3), Suero (8), Bosiokovich (2).
Tri-City | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
Lucchesi | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
Lorenzini W, 3-3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
Monroe H, 1 | 2/3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
E.Miller S, 2 | 2 1/3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
Boise | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
Julio L, 3-4 | 6 2/3 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 3 |
Lawrence | 2 1/3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
WP—Lorenzini, Lawrence 2. Umpires—Home, Randy Wilmes; First, Harrison Silverman. T—3:05. A—3,565.
This story was originally published August 12, 2016 at 9:52 PM with the headline "De La Cruz powers Dust Devils past Hawks."