On a night where nearly every Hillsboro inning ended with a strikeout with multiple runners on base, the final out of the game was even more dramatic.With the Hops down a run in the ninth, Nick Grande grounded a Deivy Mendez pitch through the right side of the infield for
On a night where nearly every Hillsboro inning ended with a strikeout with multiple runners on base, the final out of the game was even more dramatic.
With the Hops down a run in the ninth, Nick Grande grounded a Deivy Mendez pitch through the right side of the infield for a base hit. Lucas Herbert tried to score from second, but was gunned down on an accurate throw to the plate by right fielder Tyler Benson, with catcher Jonny Homza holding on through a collision in front of the dish to preserve a 6-5 Tri-City win.
Earlier in the inning, the Hops squandered a golden opportunity, when Kristian Robinson singled up the middle to lead off, then scampered all the way to third on an errant pickoff throw by Mendez. With the tying run at third and none down, Daniel Wasinger popped out harmlessly to third before Robinson was tagged out in a rundown on a Herbert grounder to third base. Herbert nearly became the final out when he appeared hung out to dry between first and second, but was able to dive in to second ahead of the throw from Homza.
The Hops plated two in the first inning on RBI hits by Jesus Marriaga and Robinson (his fourth double of the season), but Tri-City answered with five runs in the first two innings off Hops' shaky starter Michel Gelabert. The Havana native making his NWL debut got no help from mother nature, as a howling wind caused two infield pop-ups to drop and a deep fly to right field turned into a bases-clearing triple for Matthew Acosta when Marriaga got turned around battling the gale.
The Hops evened the score, plating three runs in the fifth off Jason Blanchard, a ninth-rounder out of Lamar University making his pro debut for Tri-City. Robinson drove in his second run of the night on a ground out and Wasinger followed with a two-run single.
The score stayed tied despite each team putting runners in scoring position with less than two outs in the sixth and seventh innnings. Trevor McKenna's return to Hillsboro started out wild and it cost him. A leadoff walk and wild pitch put Tyler Benson on second base in the eighth inning. Benson reached third safely on Tre Carter's bunt when McKenna's throw to third was a hair late. One out later, a squeeze bunt by Reinalldo Ilarraza pushed across what turned out to be the go-ahead run.
The Hops' downfall turned out to be strikeouts. Five Tri-City pitchers combined to fan 14 Hillsboro batters and each of the first eight innings ended with a K, seven of them with at least one runner in scoring position.
The Hops finish the road trip 4-3 and return to Ron Tonkin Field Friday night to face the Vancouver Canadians. Time of the game is 7:05 p.m. with pregame coverage on Rip City Radio 620 AM beginning at 6:35 p.m.
