Hops Beat Tri-City 5-4 in 10 Innings

PASCO, WASH. --- Hillsboro's extra-inning magic has carried over into 2019. The Hops --- in their first overtime affair of the season --- came from behind to beat Tri-City 5-4 in 10 innings on Tuesday night. Daniel Wasinger's two-out double in the top of the 10th scored Joe Robbins with what turned out to be the winning run.
Since entering the Northwest League in 2013, Hillsboro's all-time record in extra frames is 29-14. The Hops (4-1) have won four games in a row, while the Dust Devils (1-4) dropped their second straight.

Tri-City jumped in front with four runs in the bottom of the third inning off Hops starter Erin Baldwin, snapping a streak of 35 consecutive innings in which the Hillsboro pitching staff had not allowed an earned run. (Remarkably, runs have been scored against the Hops in only three of 45 innings this year.)
But the Hops' bullpen was again excellent. Franklyn Soriano worked 3.2 innings, allowing two hits and no runs, with one walk and seven strikeouts. Yaramil Hiraldo pitched around a leadoff walk to strike out the side in a scoreless seventh. And side-armer Jose Cuas worked the final three innings, allowing no hits, walking two and striking out four. The Dust Devils didn't have a hit after the third inning.
The relief corps allowed Hillsboro's offense to get the team back in the game. Ricky Martinez and David Garza Jr. drew walks to begin the top of the fourth, and Kristian Robinson doubled them both home to cut the deficit in half and make it 4-2. Garza --- with many friends and family watching, having made the 45-mile trip from his hometown of Othello, Wash. --- doubled home a run in the seventh, and Lucas Herbert tied it 4-4 with a double in the eighth.
Martinez made two nice plays at shortstop in the bottom of the ninth to send the game to extra innings. The top of the 10th began with Robbins at second base (remember, beginning last year across minor league baseball, ALL half innings in extra innings begin with a runner at second), but Robbins was still at second base with two out. Then Wasinger picked an excellent time to collect his first hit as a Hop, a double to left field, bringing Robbins home. Hillsboro had their first lead of the game, 5-4.
The bottom of the 10th began with pinch-runner Sean Guilbe at second base for Tri-City, but Cuas collected two strikeouts, and retired Mason House on a fly ball to center field to end it.
The Hops' all-time record at Tri-City improved to 16-16, meaning Hillsboro now has a record at or above .500 in every park in the Northwest League.
Hillsboro will face Tri-City on Wednesday night in the third game of the four-game series at Gesa Stadium. The radio broadcast begins at 7PM on Rip City Radio 620AM and www.RipCityRadio.com, with the first pitch scheduled for 7:15