EUGENE, ORE. --- For the second day in a row, the Hillsboro Hops shutout the Eugene Emeralds by a score of 4-0. The story again being exceptional pitching by the Hops.Hops starter Adrian Del Moral pitched brilliantly over five scoreless innings. Del Moral was perfect over his first three innings,
EUGENE, ORE. --- For the second day in a row, the Hillsboro Hops shutout the Eugene Emeralds by a score of 4-0. The story again being exceptional pitching by the Hops.
Hops starter Adrian Del Moral pitched brilliantly over five scoreless innings. Del Moral was perfect over his first three innings, retiring the first nine Emerald hitters. However, he faced his first test in the bottom of the fourth, when he gave up a one out single to Luis Vazquez, followed by walks to Yonathan Perlaza and Jake Slaughter, loading the bases. Del Moral was not fazed by the situation, responding by striking out the next two batters. In the bottom of the fifth, Del Moral went back to prior form, pitching a perfect inning.
Hillsboro scored their first run in the top of the second to make it 1-0. Jorge Barrosa drove in Kristian Robinson with a one out double. The Hops added another run in the fourth as a result of a key mistake by the Emeralds. Jesus Marriaga led the inning off with a single. Kristian Robinson bounced a short dribbler that Ems starting pitcher Yunior Perez bobbled, resulting in Robinson being safe at first and Marriaga advancing to third. Jorge Barrosa followed by bouncing into a double play, but it was good enough to drive in the second run of the game for the Hops.
Hillsboro extended their lead to 4-0 in the top of the seventh with a sacrifice fly by Joe Robbins and a two out RBI double by Joe Gillette.
The Hillsboro bullpen shined again in Eugene. Righty Jake Polancic was able to get around a double and a wild pitch to get out of the sixth inning. Following Polancic, right hander Yaramil Hiraldo dominated the Emeralds, pitching two scoreless innings while only allowing one base runner.
Righty Justin Garcia pitched through a leadoff double in the ninth inning to close the door on the Ems.
The Hops (2-1) were able to pass the Emeralds (1-2) for second place in the Northwest League, trailing Salem-Keizer (3-0) in the South Division.
The Hops head to Tri-City for the opener of a four-game series on Monday night 7:15. Airtime will be 7:00 on Rip City Radio on 620 AM.
