Opening Day Major Leaguer Beats Hops 7-3 at Tri-City
June 19, 2025 - Northwest League (NWL)
Hillsboro Hops News Release
PASCO, WASH. - If it weren't for ninth-inning wildness from Tri-City's bullpen, the Hillsboro Hops wouldn't have had any offense at all on Wednesday night in their 7-3 loss to the Dust Devils at Gesa Stadium.
The Hops were down 7-0 and on the verge of being shut out for a league-high eighth time, until an infield single, three walks and two hit batters plated three runs in the top of the ninth and brought the tying run to the plate. But with the bases loaded, Dust Devils left-handed reliever Dylan Phillips struck out pinch-hitter Kenny Castillo to end the game. The Hops went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position, and through two games in the six-game series- 3-2 and 7-3 losses- they are 0-for-17 with runners on second and/or third bases.
It figured to be a tough night for Hops hitters. Ryan Johnson, the starting pitcher for Tri-City, began the year by becoming just the 24th player in the draft era (since 1965) to make his major league baseball debut without first appearing in the minor leagues. (Johnson had largely pitched well out of the Angels' bullpen in April and May. His 7.36 big-league ERA over 14 games doesn't tell the whole story, as he'd allowed eight earned runs in 1.2 innings in his first and last outings combined, but in the dozen games in between his ERA was 2.77.)
The Angels sent Johnson to High-A Tri-City on May 9th to develop as a starter, and Wednesday was his best outing. He tossed seven shutout innings on just two hits, with no walks and seven strikeouts. The Hops' lone hit over the first five innings was a bad-hop infield single by Junior Franco in the second, and their only other hit against Johnson was a clean single to center by Anderdson Rojas in the sixth. (Rojas' single was one of just three balls the Hops hit into the outfield against Johnson. To go with his seven strikeouts, Johnson recorded 11 ground-ball outs.)
Righty Roman Phansalkar pitched around a hit batter and a walk to work a scoreless eighth for Tri-City, and former Oregon State closer Bridger Holmes came on to work the ninth in his Dust Devils' debut. Holmes, just up from Low-A Inland Empire in the California League, allowed an infield single to Rojas (who ended up with two of the Hops' three hits on the night), and then got wild. He walked Slade Caldwell, and with one out hit Jackson Feltner with a pitch, walked Junior Franco to force home the Hops' first run, and hit pinch-hitter Ryan Waldschmidt to force home another.
The Devils summoned Phillips from the pen with the sacks full and the tying run suddenly on deck. Phillips- who had thrown just two pitches the night before, picking up the win- retired Jean Walters on a fly out to shallow right. Third baseman Kevin Sim battled Phillips for 10 pitches, finally drawing a walk to bring home another run and make it 7-3. Castillo came to the plate representing the tying run, but Phillips struck him out on a 1-2 fastball to end the game.
Through two games of the series, the Hops do not have an extra-base hit, while Tri-City has hit four home runs.
Hops starter Casey Anderson matched Johnson's outing for the first four innings, allowing just a single and two walks. But he ran into problems in the fifth. Anderson hit Juan Flores to begin the inning, and Hillsboro played number-nine hitter Capri Ortiz to bunt. Ortiz, though, swung away, and belted a two-run homer to right. And later in the inning, Cole Fontenelle had an RBI double and scored on a wild pitch to make it 4-0 Tri-City.
The Dust Devils added two in the sixth on a David Calabrese homer off Liam Norris, and another in the seventh when Matt Coutney homered off of Alexis Liebano.
The game had no bearing on any playoff chase, as the Hops were eliminated from first-half contention on Tuesday. Thursday's game is the final game of the first half, and the 66-game second-half playoff race begins on Friday, when all teams' won-loss records revert to 0-0. The final three games of the six-game set at Tri-City- Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights- will be the first three games of the second half.
Elsewhere in the Northwest League, Eugene snapped Vancouver's 11-game winning streak, while Everett won in Spokane, their fifth straight victory and 15th in their last 19 games.
The first-half pennant will be decided on the final day, with Everett and Vancouver atop the league with identical 36-29 records. Everett is 7-5 against Vancouver, giving the Aquasox the tiebreaker over the Canadians. On Thursday, either an Everett win in Spokane or a Vancouver loss in Eugene will give Everett the first-half title and a September playoff berth. If Vancouver and Spokane win, the Canadians are first-half champs.
Thursday's Hops game at Tri-City begins at 7:05PM, with the radio pregame show at 6:50PM on Rip City Radio 620AM and on the internet at www.RipCityRadio.com.
Northwest League Stories from June 19, 2025
- AquaSox Outslug Indians in 8-3 Win - Spokane Indians
- Opening Day Major Leaguer Beats Hops 7-3 at Tri-City - Hillsboro Hops
- Everett AquaSox Power Past Spokane Indians 9-3 - Everett AquaSox
- Winning Streak Ends at 11 with Lopsided Loss - Vancouver Canadians
- Dust Devils Great for Eight, Hold off Hops in Ninth - Tri-City Dust Devils
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.
