Palmegiani Salami with Five Ribs, C's Win Squeaker
August 26, 2022 - Northwest League (NWL)
Hillsboro Hops News Release
VANCOUVER, B.C. --- In a game where there were a combined 19 runs scored, 18 hits and five lead changes, the winning runs came with a whimper, not a bang.
The Vancouver Canadians (30-20 2nd half, 60-53 overall) parlayed a walk, hit batter and balk into two runs in the seventh inning and held on for a wild, 10-9 victory over the Hops (22-29, 51-64) Thursday night in front of a sellout crowd of 6,413 at Nat Bailey Stadium.
The Hops outhit the Canadians 12-6, but two of those half dozen hits brought home a combined seven runs. Damiano Palmegiani hit his third grand slam of the season, second against the Hops, to give the Canadians a 4-2 lead in the third inning. After the Hops got four runs of their own to regain the lead in the fifth, P.K. Morris blasted a three-run homer to left in the sixth to put Vancouver back in front 8-7.
That lead wouldn't last long. With southpaw Mason Fluharty, a 5th-round 2022 draft selection out of Liberty University on the hill in the seventh, Hillsboro rallied with two outs. Caleb Roberts, whose two-run homer capped the Hops' fifth inning rally, drew a walk. A.J. Vukovich followed with a deep fly to left center that got beyond the fence just in front of the video scoreboard for his 11th home run of the season, putting Hillsboro back in front 9-8.
Connor Grammes (0-1) came on to pitch the bottom of the inning and immediately ran into trouble, walking number nine hitter Garrett Spain on five pitches before drilling leadoff batter Dasan Brown in the back of the shoulder with an errant 97 mph heater. Andres Sosa followed with a drive to right field, deep enough for Spain to advance to third. After the speedy Brown swiped second without a throw, Palmegiani was back at the plate. Before he could swing the bat, home plate umpire Matthew Blackborrow saw a flinch from Grammes and signaled a balk, sending Spain home with the tying run and moving Brown to third. Palmegiani followed with a sharp grounder to the drawn-in shortstop Ryan Bliss, who made a backhand stop and threw home high, with the ball glancing off Roberts' glove as Brown slid in with what turned out to be the winning run.
But Vancouver would not breathe easy yet. The Hops loaded the bases with another two-out rally in the eighth off right hander Troy Watson and sent 19-year-old slugger Deyvison De Los Santos to the plate. The powerful third baseman hit a slow bouncer toward second base that Miguel Hiraldo charged, picked with a backhand and threw back across his body to first baseman Rainer Nunez, who did a complete split to extend and receive the ball just ahead of the hustling De Los Santos. The problem was replay clearly showed Nunez's foot was well off the bag. Instead of inning over, it should have been game tied at 10 and sacks still jammed.
Another tough call cost the Hops a double play with none out in the fourth inning when Neyfy Castillo was called for interfering with the throw of the catcher Sosa on an attempted steal of second base by A.J. Vukovich. Both runner and batter were called out on a play where Castillo did not swing the bat on a ball clearly not in the strike zone, prompting a long-running argument between manager Vince Harrison and the two-man umpiring crew.
Roberts hit his third home run of the series, Jarrod Watkins drove in Hillsboro's first three runs with a single, double and sacrifice fly and is now 5-for-7 in the series with four RBI and Bliss reached base four times and scored three runs, going 2-for-3 with a triple and two walks. New Hops catcher Gavin Logan, a 9th-round draft pick out of Oregon State from Oyen, Alberta, had his first hits, going 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored in his second game for Hillsboro.
Fluharty (1-0) recorded his first pro victory, despite allowing two earned runs in 1 2/3 innings. The southpaw from Lewes, Delaware allowed one hit and one walk with three strikeouts. Watson, who was tentatively scheduled to start Sunday's series finale, picked up his first save of the season. Grammes, still working his way back from Tommy John surgery that ended his 2021 season prematurely, retired four straight batters, two on strikeouts following his seventh inning rough patch.
Palmegiani finished with a season-high five runs batted in and two runs scored, going 1-for-3 with a walk. The home run was his 21st of the season and 10th in Vancouver. He had previously hit a grand slam off Scott Randall in an 8-2 Vancouver win over Hillsboro on July 17.
The teams reconvene for a "Nooner At The Nat" on Friday with first pitch at 1:05 p.m. Pregame coverage begins at 12:50 p.m. on Rip City Radio 620 AM.
Northwest League Stories from August 26, 2022
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- Frogs Have Fun on Funko Friday - Everett AquaSox
- Emeralds' Bats Blow Up In The Fifth Against Tri-City - Eugene Emeralds
- Wallace Wows, Offense Finds a Way in 5-3 Win - Vancouver Canadians
- C's Snatch Win Late for Third Time in Series - Hillsboro Hops
- PK Park to Host Northwest League Playoff Games - Eugene Emeralds
- Tri-City Takes Advantage of Eugene Errors to Grab Win - Tri-City Dust Devils
- AquaSox Pound out 17 Hits in Loss - Everett AquaSox
- Palmegiani Salami with Five Ribs, C's Win Squeaker - Hillsboro Hops
- Emeralds Unable to Hang Onto Lead against Tri-City - Eugene Emeralds
- Battle of Bats Ends with C's on Top - Vancouver Canadians
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