Late Flurry Lifts Hops to Third Straight W
August 21, 2016 - Northwest League (NWL1)
Hillsboro Hops News Release
The surging Hillsboro Hops offense appeared to have hit a slow patch of road Sunday until the fast lane opened up in the sixth inning.
Luke Lowery's two-out, two-run double gave the Hops (14-10 2nd half, 33-29 overall) the lead for good in the sixth as Hillsboro stormed past Spokane 6-1 Sunday at Ron Tonkin Field. The Hops matched a season-long streak by winning their third straight game and took a 2-0 lead in the five-game series against the Indians (9-15, 28-34).
Down 1-0 in the fifth inning, the Hops were still hitless against Indians' right-hander Alex Daniele (0-5), who was making his third start of the season after 11 relief appearance for the Tribe. Luis Veras finally broke up the no-hitter with a single up the middle, but Daniele struck out Jose Queliz to end the inning and came back out to pitch the sixth.
Daniele, a 19th-round draft pick out of Oklahoma who had not pitched more than four innings as a pro before Sunday, recorded the first two outs of the sixth inning before Mark Karaviotis reached on a bloop single to center. Josh Anderson followed with a base hit to right field and Indians manager Tim Hulett went to the bullpen to get right-hander Mark Vasquez. Luke Lowery greeted Vasquez with a double over the head of right fielder Chad Smith and off the wall, plating both Karaviotis and Anderson with the go-ahead runs.
The Hops put two more runs on the board in the seventh on a two-run double to right center field by Karaviotis. Justin Chigbogu led off the eighth inning with a bloop double down the left field line and scored on Adam Walton's infield hit. Ben DeLuzio capped the Hops scoring with an RBI single as the Hops finished off their third straight two-hit, three-run inning with a 6-1 lead.
The rest was up to Wei-Chieh Huang (2-1), who made his third consecutive long relief appearance for the Hops to start the fifth inning. Huang was masterful, locating his sinking fastball and getting swings and misses with his top-drawer change-up. The second-year pro from Taiwan allowed just two baserunners through his first four innings, and glided into the ninth having retired seven straight batters, with five of the last six going down on strikes. After retiring the first two batters in the ninth, Huang surrendered a ground rule double to Preston Scott and Steven Lohr followed with an RBI single to center. Huang struck out Todd McDonald to close out the win, his career-best ninth punch-out of the game.
The Indians scored their first run in the third inning off Hops' starting pitcher Mack Lemieux. Brallan Perez singled up the middle and Leody Tavares rifled a single to left through the shortstop hole. Darius Day followed with a bouncer toward third. Hops third baseman Josh Anderson went toward the bag to prepare for a force, but the ball hit the base and bounced back toward home plate, loading the bases with one out. Seth Spivey followed with a run-scoring ground out to second to score Perez before Lemieux retired cleanup hitter Luis Terrero on a fly out to right.
Lemieux lasted four effective innings, striking out two with one walk, the only three hits he allowed coming in succession in the third inning.
Both Hops pitchers were beneficiaries of outstanding defensive plays. Hops left fielder Luis Veras somersaulted over the wall in left field to snare a foul ball off the bat of Spivey in the first inning. With Huang on the mound in the sixth, center fielder DeLuzio made a diving play coming in to rob Spivey of a hit.
DeLuzio, Karaviotis and Anderson each had two hits for the Hops, who reached ten hits for the fourth consecutive game and have nine or more hits in eight straight games.
Game three of the series is at 7:05 p.m. at Ron Tonkin Field with the pregame show airing at 6:35 p.m. on Rip City Radio 620 AM. This story was not subject to the approval of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues or its clubs.
Northwest League Stories from August 21, 2016
- Late Flurry Lifts Hops to Third Straight W - Hillsboro Hops
- Volcanoes Get Stellar Pitching, Down Dust Devils - Salem-Keizer Volcanoes
- Mistakes Doom Dust Devils - Tri-City Dust Devils
- Beni Battles Hops to Series Opening Win - Hillsboro Hops
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
