Merrill Kelly Starts, Hops Bullpen Closes the Door in 7-3 Win 

Hillsboro, OR (August 6, 2024) – Hillsboro returned home to take on the Everett AquaSox at Hillsboro Ballpark on Tuesday night. Arizona Diamondbacks star right-hander Merrill Kelly made an MLB rehab start for the Hops and pitched four innings. Kelly struck out two over 62 pitches and allowed three runs, receiving a no-decision in the Hops 7-3 win. Gino Groover had a two-homer game and Christian Cerda also homered as the Hops took the series opener behind a dominant performance from the bullpen.

Less than 10 months ago Merrill Kelly threw seven one-run innings in game two of the World Series against the Texas Rangers. Today, he was the starter for the Hillsboro Hops. The Arizona State University product was placed on the injured list with a shoulder injury by the Diamondbacks on April 23^rd after an outing against the Chicago Cubs and is now working his way through rehab to return to the big-league club. Kelly surrendered an early first inning run against the AquaSox as 19-year-old Michael Arroyo blasted a ball 400+ feet off the batter’s eye in centerfield to lead off the game with a double. Then with one out, Jared Sundstrom hit a single back up the middle to make it 1-0.

Kelly was still facing a 1-0 deficit in the second inning and tossed an efficient frame by getting a pair of groundouts and a strikeout around a throwing error by Tommy Troy. In the home half of the second, last week’s NWL Player of the week Christian Cerda hit his third home run in eight days by slugging a 430-feet shot over the batter’s eye to even the score.

Back-to-back extra-base hits by Everett in the third gave them the lead right back. Axel Sanchez doubled and then Michael Arroyo hit a two-run opposite field home run off the Diamondbacks right-hander, his seventh homer with Everett in just 32 games.

Hillsboro would again immediately respond with two runs of their own when Junior Franco doubled, later scoring on a groundout and Gino Groover hit a solo home run.

Tied 3-3 in the fourth Kelly tossed his most efficient frame of the game sending Everett down in order. He returned to the bump in the fifth inning, but faced just one batter who singled before he left the game after 62 pitches. Listher Sosa came in out of the bullpen and was spectacular. Over the next three innings Sosa retired all nine batters he faced, striking out three of them.

Meanwhile, Hillsboro took the lead in the fifth against Ryan Hawks. Junior Franco had another extra-base knock, this time a triple to leadoff the inning. Then Jackson Feltner drove him home with an RBI single in his Hops’ debut. Feltner later scored in the inning on a two-out RBI single by Gavin Conticello that extended the lead to 5-3.

Jackson Feltner would add another RBI-single to his totals in his High-A debut in the sixth inning, again extending the Hillsboro lead to 6-3. Hawks was chased from the game after six innings, allowing nine hits and six runs without walking or striking out a batter.

Gino Groover belted his second home run of the game to the left-field berm in the seventh, his first multi-homer game as a pro and just the third by a Hop at home in their 11-year history. Christian Cerda and Jose Fernandez each had two-homer games last week in Spokane.

Zane Russell recorded all three batters he faced to extend the streak to 12 straight batters between him and Sosa, turning the ball over to Carlos Meza in the ninth. Meza recorded the first two outs, but then walked Hunter Fitz-Gerald for the first free pass of the game and ending the consecutive batter streak at 14. Fitz-Gerald was stranded on base to end the game when Bill Knight struck out looking.

Sosa, Russell and Meza combined for five scoreless innings out of the bullpen. 5-of-9 Hillsboro batters recorded multi-hit games in the 7-3 win.

Game two of the series will be tomorrow night at Hillsboro Ballpark. The pregame show is at 6:50 with first pitch at 7:05 on Rip City Radio 620 am and Bally Live.