Hops Silence C's in Wild 9-5 Win at Vancouver
August 25, 2022 - Northwest League (NWL)
Hillsboro Hops News Release
VANCOUVER, B.C. --- The Nat Bailey Stadium crowd in Vancouver is one of the loudest and rowdiest in minor league baseball, but on Wednesday night the Hillsboro Hops celebrated the sweet sound of silence.
With the Vancouver Canadians fans in full throat following a five-run eighth inning that closed a 6-0 Hops lead to one, Ryan Bliss clubbed a three-run homer in the top of the ninth that shut down the noise and got the Nat Bailey monkey off the Hops back in a wild, 9-5 win.
Scott Randall (6-7) continued his dominant August with five scoreless innings, striking out six with one walk for his fourth consecutive winning decision. Jose Alcantara hung on tight through a rocky eight to retire the side in the ninth for his first save.
Hillsboro had dropped seven straight games in B.C., including a 4-3 loss in Tuesday's opener in which they blew a late lead. A 6-0 advantage in the eighth seemed secure until Hugh Fisher loaded the bases with none out on a leadoff walk, a single and a hit batter. Andres Sosa, whose two-run homer in the sixth inning Tuesday put Vancouver ahead for good, lashed a double to the right field fence that cleared the bases and sent Fisher to the showers, to the howling dismay of the Vancouver faithful.
Alcantara came in to try to stop the bleeding, but gave up three more hits. The C's closed to within 6-5 and had runners at first and second when Garrett Spain, who ignited the inning with a walk, grounded out to end the rally.
With the crowd charged up in the ninth, Hops' designated hitter Jarrod Watkins smacked his third hit of the night, a double to the wall in right off hard-throwing reliever T.J. Brock. The 2022 6th rounder out of Ohio State got ahead of Fox Semones 1-2 after the number nine hitter fouled off one bunt attempt and offered at another and missed. With the green light still on from manager Vince Harrison, Semones squared again and got a perfect bunt down on a 97mph inside heater, beating it out for a base hit.
With the volume level in the stadium cut down drastically, leadoff hitter Bliss strode to the plate and unloaded on an 0-1 slider, jerking his 10th home run of the season out to straightaway left field as about half the crowd of 6,385 began streaming toward the exits.
Watkins had his first three-hit game of the season in his return to the Hops. The Washington, Illinois native last played for Hillsboro in the July series in Vancouver when the Canadians swept the Hops out of town. He was 0-for-his-last-11 in the series before being sent down to the spring training complex. In his first at bat back, the Indiana St. free agent hit a two-out RBI single in the second inning, scoring Neyfy Castillo with the first run of the game.
Caleb Roberts made it 2-0 Hops in the fourth with a leadoff solo home run to right center on the first pitch of the inning from Vancouver starting pitcher Michael Dominguez (0-2). In Roberts' next turn at bat, he did it again, this time taking lefty reliever Naswell Paulino deep out to right for his (and the Hops') first two-homer game of the year.
The 3-0 lead doubled in the top of the eighth when Hillsboro plated three off righty Justin Kelly. Bliss hit a leadoff single and scored on a passed ball. S.P. Chen singled and scored on an A.J. Vukovich groundout and Castillo's two-out RBI double drove home Roberts, who was walked intentionally with runners at second and third and one out.
Randall and Marcos Tineo (two innings, no hits, four strikeouts, one walk) combined to handcuff the C's over the first seven innings before the eighth inning explosion. Newest Hop Gavin Logan, a catcher from Oregon State drafted in the ninth round this season, went 0-for-4 in his Hillsboro debut, but allowed nothing to get past him and no stolen bases. Logan hails from tiny Oyen, Alberta near the Saskatchewan border.
With Spokane's win at Everett, the Canadians' lead over the Indians slipped to a half-game in the race for second-place and a playoff berth behind first-place Eugene.
Game three of the series gets underway at 7:05 p.m. Thursday night. Pregame coverage starts at 6:50 p.m. on Rip City Radio 620 AM.
Northwest League Stories from August 25, 2022
- Hops Silence C's in Wild 9-5 Win at Vancouver - Hillsboro Hops
- Streak of Wins over Hops Ends in 9-5 Loss - Vancouver Canadians
- Emeralds Jump on 2-0 Lead Against Tri-City - Eugene Emeralds
- Late Dust Devils Charge Given Red Light by Emeralds - Tri-City Dust Devils
- AquaSox' Bats Cooled off by Spokane Pitching - Everett AquaSox
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