Tri-City Defeats Washington in Extra Innings
TROY, New York (June 25) - Tri-City took the first ever meeting between Washington and the Valleycats in extras Friday night, 5-4 in Troy, New York with a walk-off single by Denis Phipps.
Washington got the scoring started in the top of the third when Hector Roa, hitting eighth, hit his fifth homer of the season in his return to Tri-City, where he played in 2015 in the Astros' farm system, to give the Wild Things a 1-0 lead. Later in the inning, Gabe Howell tattoed a ball for his first professional home run, which went an estimated 375 feet and came off the bat at 103 miles per hour, according to the Tri-City analytics staff. That made it 2-0.
The Valleycats scored a run in the bottom of the third on an RBI single by Keaton Wiesz and tied the game in the fourth when Willy Garcia did the same.
The tie didn't last long as Nick Ward hit a two-run blast to break the tie in the fifth, a home run that held up as the difference in the ballgame. It was Ward's third homer of the campaign and came off the bat at 103 mph as well.
McKenzie Mills picked up his first win of the season after pitching 5.1 innings of two-run ball. He'd load the bases, thanks in part to an intentional walk in the sixth before leaving the game. Ben Vicini took over, got a strikeout and a fly ball to get Washington and Mills out of the jam, and then worked a scoreless seventh inning in his first full inning of relief.
The Wild Things left the bases full in the eighth. Tri-City was able to tie the game with two solo shots in the eighth inning, one by Juan Silverio and one by Willy Garcia against Vicini. The Cats loaded the bases after that but couldn't push across a go-ahead run. Washington was able to get two runners in the ninth but failed to score. Zach Strecker notched a 1-2-3 ninth to send the game to extras.
After Washington didn't score in the top half, Denis Phipps hit a 2-1 to left field and the international tie breaker rule runner scored to win Tri-City the game.
The two meet again tomorrow at 7:00 p.m. Kevin McNorton will take the hill for Washington.
