Back-to-Back Homers Power Hops to Win
Hillsboro, OR (May 23, 2023) – New week, new opponent, but the same bats stayed hot on Tuesday at Ron Tonkin Field. Both Ivan Melendez and J.J. D'Orazio continued their hot hitting with home runs and Yilber Diaz struck out the first six batters he faced, in the Hops 5-0
Hillsboro, OR (May 23, 2023) – New week, new opponent, but the same bats stayed hot on Tuesday at Ron Tonkin Field. Both Ivan Melendez and J.J. D'Orazio continued their hot hitting with home runs and Yilber Diaz struck out the first six batters he faced, in the Hops 5-0 win.
Hillsboro wasted no time jumping on Dust Devils’ starter, Jose Salvador, in the first inning. Back-to-back home runs by Ivan Melendez and J.J. D’Orazio gave the Hops an early 3-0 lead. The home run for Melendez gave him his 7th in the last 11 games and extended his hit streak to a franchise record-tying 15 games. D’Orazio’s blast was his first of the year, measuring 429 feet.
Yilber Diaz was coming off his best performance of the season at Eugene where he struck out nine and picked up right where he left off in game one against Tri-City. Diaz retired the first six batters he faced on strikeouts, totaling seven over five scoreless, no-hit innings.
Melendez drove in his third run of the game on a sacrifice fly in the third and Channy Ortiz brought in the final run of the game in the fifth, in the Hops’ 5-0 win.
Jose Alcantara and Zach Barnes finished the game for the Hops out of the bullpen, combining to allow just three hits over five innings without allowing a run.
The top four hitters in the Hops order (Ortiz, Day, Melendez, D’Orazio) all had at least one hit and run scored in the game. The 2:01 ballgame was the second quickest game of the season (2:00 on Sunday).
Hillsboro and Tri-City will play the second game of the series at Ron Tonkin Field on Wednesday night. First pitch is at 6:35 with the pregame show starting at 6:20 on Rip City Radio 620 and Bally Live.