Del Castillo Caps off Three-Hit Night with Walk-Off Single 

Hillsboro, OR (August 30, 2022) – The Hillsboro Hops took the first game of the final home series of 2022 in dramatic fashion. Diamondbacks’ 2021 second round pick from the University of Miami, Adrian Del Castillo, capped off his three-hit night with a walk-off single in the ninth. The Hops had three consecutive hits with two outs and nobody on base to win the game. Neyfy Castillo reached base four times and Ryan Bliss stole two bases, in the 5-4 win.

The Dust Devils had at least one runner on base in each of the first three innings, but did not score a run against Luke Albright. The Hops scored the first run of the game in the home half of the third, when Caleb Roberts brought home Ryan Bliss on an RBI single. Roberts recorded RBI 54 after Bliss stole his 30th base of the year.

Tri-City added four more hits in the fourth, but this time got runs on the board. Joe Stewart got things started with a double to lead off the frame, but got thrown out trying to advance to third on the relay throw from Castillo, to Ortiz to De Los Santos. The next three batters Dana, Sepulveda and Phillips all had hits, with Sepulveda and Phillips recording RBIs. Tri-City had a 2-1 lead after four.

The lead did not last for long, with the Hops coming back for two of their own in the fourth. Adrian Del Castillo doubled for his second hit of the game and 18th RBI as a Hop, tying the game at two. Former Oregon State Beaver, Gavin Logan, had his first Ron Tonkin Field hit and RBI with one swing of the bat, an RBI single to give the Hops a 3-2 lead.

Both starters had very similar stat lines in the game, with Brent Killam getting chased after 4.2 innings, allowing six hits and two earned runs, while striking out eight. Killam threw 102 pitches. Hillsboro starter, Luke Albright, pitched five innings allowing six hits and two earned runs, while striking out six.

Conor Grammes came on to pitch the sixth and hit the first batter he faced, Joe Stewart. Stewart advanced to second with his sixth High-A stolen base and scored on an RBI single by Dylan Phillips to tie the game once again. Grammes pitched a clean seventh, before coming back on for the eighth.

Gabe Matthews and Casey Dana had back-to-back extra base hits in the eighth, as Dana had the go-ahead RBI on his triple on a ball that got underneath a diving Neyfy Castillo and rolled all the way to the wall. Caleb Roberts saved a run with a diving stop to keep the ball on the infield, then dove to the bag at first to beat Phillips and end the inning.

Ivan Armstrong looked like he was on the way to his seventh save of the season after retiring the first two hitters in the ninth. A.J. Vukovich singled with two outs and stole his 34th base of the year to get in scoring position. The next hitter, Neyfy Castillo, hit a high chopper off the turf and over the glove of Matthews at first, scoring Vukovich to even the score at four. Castillo stole the Hops’ fourth base of the night and second of the inning, bringing Adrian Del Castillo to the plate. Del Castillo hit the 1-2 pitch to the left-center field gap for a base hit, ending the game.

Tri-City had 10 hits in the contest, with five being for extra-bases, although finishing just 3-for-16 with runners in scoring position. Kasser, Matthews, Dana and Phillips all had two-hit games. Both of Matthews’ hits were doubles.

Hillsboro had their first walk-off win since May 24th, when Tim Tawa had a walk-off double, which at the time, was the seventh walk-off in 22 games.

Hillsboro (54-65) and Tri-City (51-67) will play game two of the series tomorrow at Ron Tonkin Field. First pitch is at 7:05 with the pre-game show starting at 6:50 on Rip City Radio 620 and MiLB.tv.