Hops Can't Hold Early Lead, Fall to Sox 6-5

Everett, WA (August 20, 2023) - The Hillsboro Hops and Everett AquaSox met for the final time in 2023 at Funko Field on Sunday. After a three-run walk off home run by Harry Ford in yesterday’s game, the AquaSox had a 3-2 lead in the series. Hogan Windish homered for his third consecutive game in the series finale and a couple missed opportunities defensively cost the Hops, in the 6-5 Everett win.

Wilderd Patiño led off the game with a solo home run, his fifth High-A homer of the year to give Hillsboro an early lead. The Everett starter, Jimmy Kingsbury would only last one inning and was the first of seven AquaSox pitchers used in the game.

Jose Cabrera held the Sox off the board in the bottom half of the first, allowing the Hops to extend the lead in the second. Andrew Pintar roped a double down the line past the diving third baseman Ben Ramirez. His second High-A double made it 2-0.

Everett immediately responded in the second, loading the bases with two outs for Harry Ford. In classic Ford fashion, he worked the count full and took his league-leading 93rd walk of the season to score a run. Gabriel Gonzalez would ground out to end the threat. Gonzalez was 0-for-5 in the game, with all five outs coming on groundouts to the left side of the infield.

After hitting solo homers in both Friday and Saturday’s games, Hogan Windish extended his streak on Sunday with a two-run homer. His 17th of the year gave Everett a 3-2 lead.

Back-and-forth we went, as the Hops took the lead again on another home run. This time, a two-run blast by Christian Cerda to dead centerfield. Hillsboro added on another run on an errant throw by the catcher Andrew Miller, scoring David Martin.

The Hops led 5-1 in yesterday’s game before surrendering seven straight runs and they would find themselves up 5-3 on Sunday.

Ford continued his production with a long single off the hand operated scoreboard in right field, bringing home a run and cutting the defect to one. The next hitter, Gonzalez would ground into a double play, but it scored a run and tied the game at five.

Walking Cabrera and Ben Ramirez hit back-to-back singles in the seventh, putting two runners on for Andrew Miller. Miller hit a ground ball to Tommy Troy, a would be double play, but the ball was dropped by Manuel Peña on the transfer. A double play would have ended the inning and kept the game tied, but instead, the AquaSox took a 6-5 lead.

The Hops went down in order in both the eighth and ninth innings, as Sam Carlson locked in his fourth save.

The AquaSox won the season series 15-12 with the 6-5 win. Hillsboro will head home for a six-game set with the Eugene Emeralds. First pitch at 7:05 with the pregame show starting at 6:50 on Bally Live and Rip City Radio 620.