Hernandez Shines as Hops Fall Late
July 14, 2015 - Northwest League (NWL1)
Hillsboro Hops News Release
HILLSBORO, OR - In the first ever nationally televised game in Hillsboro Hops history, the home team suffered a rather public heartbreak. Leading the Spokane Indians 4-0 entering the bottom of the ninth, the Hops ceded four to the visitors, before dropping the contest 6-5 in eleven innings. Hops starter Carlos Hernandez saw another sterling outing go for naught as Hillsboro blew the late lead.
Hillsboro (14-11) leads the Northwest League in team ERA by a significant margin, and Hernandez did his part to lower it. He entered the game tenth in the NWL in ERA at 2.63, and by the end of his sparkling seven shutout innings, had reduced that mark to 2.03. The Dominican-born Hernandez struck out eight and walked one during his start. Despite pitching magnificently for the Hops in 2015, Hernandez is yet to record a victory, the victim of bullpen collapses and shaky offensive support.
As Hernandez hung zeroes for the first seven innings, the Spokane (13-12) staff couldn't match it. The first Hop run got across home plate in the bottom of the third inning when Hillsboro third baseman singled to left and moved to third on a double by catcher Jose Queliz. With runners on second and third, Sergio Alcantara, Hillsboro's offensive hero of the night, knocked a sacrifice fly to left to make it 1-0.
Two more came across for the Hops in the bottom of the fifth inning. Smith walked with one out, and Alcantara followed with a ripped triple into the right-center field gap. When Spokane's relay man fumbled the exchange, the opportunistic Alcantara scampered home for a 3-0 Hops lead. Taking the romance out of a great baseball play, the official scorer ruled it a triple with a one-base error instead of an inside-the-park homer.
Hillsboro pushed one more over home plate after Alcantara singled for his third hit of the night, and Zach Nehrir brought him home with a double to left. Over the last two days, Alcantara is 5-8 with six runs batted in.
Riding high with a 4-0 lead in the top of the ninth, Hillsboro newcomer Troy Marks had a day to forget. He allowed three consecutive hits and didn't record an out, yielding to Ryan Burr with a 4-1 score and no outs. Burr quickly recorded two outs before Spokane catcher Tyler Sanchez stepped in to the batter's box. In a deflating turn of events, Sanchez launched a game-tying three-run homer to left.
Hillsboro couldn't scratch one across in the bottom of the ninth.
The teams traded zeroes in the tenth, but Brody Greer couldn't hold Spokane down in the eleventh. The Indians posted two on back-to-back wild pitches with runners on third base.
Now trailing 6-4 in the bottom of the eleventh, Hops outfielder Zach Hoffpauir led off the inning with his first Hillsboro home run to cut the deficit to one. A single and a throwing error left two runners in scoring position for Fernery Ozuna, who couldn't provide any magic as the Hops fell 6-5.
The fifth and final game of the series is tomorrow night at 7:05. Pregame radio is at 6:35 on Rip City Radio 620 AM and at www.ripcityradio.com.
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- Mejia's Turn: Hillsboro Shuts out Spokane--Again - Hillsboro Hops
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