Hops Give Em's an English Lesson to Take Game One
August 11, 2021 - Northwest League (NWL)
Hillsboro Hops News Release
In the first game of a critical six-game set, the Hillsboro Hops walked it off with a 3-2 victory against rival Eugene Emeralds. With the win, the Hops closed the gap with the Em's to eight games out of a second-place playoff spot. With one out and the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth, Tristin English drove the ball to deep center field to bring Jorge Barrosa in to score the winning run with a sacrifice fly.
In his Hops' debut, Shumpei Yoshikawa got the start but lasted only two innings. Yoshikawa tossed a clean one-two-three first inning, striking out the side. However, the Em's got on the board in the second when Franklin Labour (12) blasted a two-run homer on a line drive shot to left field.
Hillsboro's manager Vince Harrison went to the bullpen in the third inning, turning to Bobby Ay. The 6-3 right hander was brilliant, not allowing a hit over three shutout innings.
Down 2-0 in the bottom of the fifth, Eduardo Diaz (11) drilled a high fly ball over the center field fence to bring the Hops within a run. On the play, Diaz claimed the Hops' season-high franchise home run record -- Trevor Mitsui held the record prior with ten homers back in 2015.
The Hops' bullpen continued to shine in the later innings. Kai-Wei Lin took over for Ay in the sixth and fired three scoreless innings of his own. In the bottom of the seventh, Hillsboro caught a break and tied it up when Leodany Perez came into score on a wild pitch by Jasier Herrera . With Barrosa on second and Perez on third, Herrera forced Andy Yerzy to strike out on a wild breaking ball that got away from Ricardo Genoves . This allowed Perez to score and tie the game at 2-2.
It took two pitchers to get the Hops past the Em's in the top of the ninth, but Denson Hull and Mailon Arroyo preserved the seven-shutout innings from the bullpen.
The Hops had been eluded by the walk-off all season leading into tonight but jumped off to a good start in the bottom of the ninth. Perez led off with a walk and Barrosa singled to put runners on the corners. The Em's elected to intentionally walk Diaz to load the bases with no one out. Eugene got their first out of the inning when Yerzy grounded out to second base and Tyler Fitzgerald was able to get the force out at home. However, in the moment of truth, English delivered the RBI sacrifice fly to give the Hops the 3-2 walk-off victory.
In addition to the walk-off, Hillsboro also extended their season high winning streak to five games. The Hops have now played an incredible seven straight one-run games against the Emeralds, winning four and outhitting them in all seven.
Hillsboro (40-44) will face off against Eugene (49-36) again tomorrow at 7:05 p.m. Catch all the action on Rip City Radio 620AM and www.RipCityRadio.com with the pregame coverage beginning at 6:50.
Northwest League Stories from August 11, 2021
- $5 Field Box Seats Available Aug 17 - 22 - Vancouver Canadians
- Kloffenstein's Career Day Can't Match Frog Bats - Vancouver Canadians
- Hops Give Em's an English Lesson to Take Game One - Hillsboro Hops
- AquaSox Hop Ahead, 11-6 - Everett AquaSox
- Hot Hitting Lifts Tri-City over Spokane - Tri-City Dust Devils
- Offense Sputters as Ems See Lead Slip Away - Eugene Emeralds
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