Peña's Two-Homer Night Spoiled in Hops' Loss

Hillsboro, OR (June 21, 2023) – A late-inning comeback for the Hops wasn’t enough on Wednesday night at Ron Tonkin Field. In his second game as a Hop, 19-year-old Manuel Peña had a two home run performance. Despite outhitting Everett 12-9, the Hops lost 8-7 in game two of the series.

For the second night in a row, both teams scored in the first inning. Joe Elbis struggled to find his command early in the game, loading the bases with nobody out. Axel Sanchez walked to score a run and Ben Ramirez grounded out to bring home another run, giving Everett a 2-0 lead.

The Hops put together a two-out rally in the bottom half of the first, as Ivan Melendez doubled off the wall in left and J.J. D’Orazio brought him home with an RBI infield single.

After seeing just two pitches total in his first two at-bats in yesterday's game, Harry Ford walked in his first two at-bats on Wednesday. He got aboard to leadoff the third and advanced to scoring position on a stolen base. Hogan Windish hit a looper to shallow right field with the infield drawn in, dropping for an RBI single that scored Ford. Windish’s 34^th RBI gave Everett a 3-1 lead.

The Hops once again answered in the third with a run on Ivan Melendez’s 13^th home run of the year. Melendez, who was last year’s Golden Spikes Award winner in college baseball at the University of Texas, is averaging a home run every 3.38 games.

Back-to-back doubles by Jesus Valdez and Gary Mattis tied the game at three in the fourth. The lead didn’t last for long, with the AquaSox adding a pair of runs in the fifth. Two hits, an error, hit-by-pitch and walk in the inning gave Everett a 5-3 lead. Joe Elbis pitched 4.1 innings for the Hops, allowing five hits, five walks and five earned runs.

Arizona Diamondbacks No.16 prospect, 19-year-old Manuel Pena who picked up his first High-A hit in his debut last night, followed tonight by hitting his first Hops’ home run. The solo shot off Raul Alcantara brought the Hillsboro deficit to one.

Alcantara struck out nine over six innings, despite allowing four earned runs on seven hits.

Everett tagged on two more runs in the sixth on three base hits. Alberto Rodriguez had his league-leading 36^th extra-base hit in the frame. It was 7-4 Everett after the sixth.

The AquaSox were quickly in business again, as Dillon Larsen loaded the bases with nobody out. Eli Saul followed him out of the bullpen, but was able to limit the damage to just one run. Brett Johnson made a fine running catch in right field to end the inning.

After the Hops had back-to-back extra-base hits in the fourth, they did it again in the eighth. This time, it was a pair of triples by J.J. D’Orazio and Junior Franco. Franco picked up the RBI, his eighth as a Hop.

Gerald Ogando pitched a scoreless ninth, keeping the Hops within three to the bottom of the inning. Wilderd Patiño became the seventh different Hop with a hit on a one-out single, bringing up Manuel Peña. Peña once again left the yard, a two-run homer that made it 8-7 Everett. Bernie Martinez struck out Ivan Melendez and with two outs gave up a single to D’Orazio. Junior Franco was the winning run at the plate and the first batter that lefty Peyton Alford faced and he walked. Jesus Valdez had a 2-0 count with two runners on, but Alford battled back to even the count 2-2. Valdez chased a fastball out of the zone that ended the game.

The Hops’ 2-4 hitters (Peña, Melendez and D’Orazio) combined for seven base hits, with all three having at least two knocks. Hogan Windish led the way for Everett with three hits.

Game three of the series will be on Thursday at Ron Tonkin Field, with the pregame show starting at 6:50 and first pitch at 7:05 on Bally Live and Rip City Radio 620. The Second-half of the Northwest League season will start on Friday.