Rain of Spain Falls Mainly on Hops
June 16, 2023 - Northwest League (NWL)
Hillsboro Hops News Release
The Hillsboro Hops have held one of the hottest hitters in the league to just a single base hit this week. But Garrett Spain is primarily responsible for two of Vancouver's three wins in the series.
Two nights after a walk-off two-run homer, Spain came up with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning Friday and drew a walk to force in the winning run in a 3-2 Canadians win in front of 6,074 fans at Nat Bailey Stadium.
The Canadians (34-26), now 3-1 in the series and 8-2 against the Hops (24-37) this season, assured themselves of sole possession of first place in the Northwest League standings for at least another day with five games remaining before the first-half cutoff.
Dasan Brown went 2-for-3 with a game-tying solo home run off Hillsboro starting pitcher Spencer Giesting to lead off the fifth inning. Giesting, in the longest outing of his two-year professional career, allowed two runs on six hits with two strikeouts, two walks and a hit batter over 5 1/3 innings, departing after allowing two hits in the sixth. Lefty Dillon Larsen came out of the Hops bullpen and retired the first six batters he faced, holding Vancouver scoreless through the eighth inning, while striking out three with a single base on balls.
With the game tied 2-2 in the ninth, the Hops drew a pair of walks off Vancouver closer Matt Svanson (4-1), who had not allowed a baserunner in his last three appearances and four innings. Facing one of the hottest hitters in the league, Svanson fanned Hillsboro cleanup hitter J.J. D'Orazio to quell the threat.
Lyle Lin, a 2019 Diamondbacks draft pick and the starting catcher on the Hops 2019 NWL championship team, led off the ninth for the C's. Lin, released by the Diamondbacks organization following a 2022 season in which he hit .182 in 42 games, 37 with Hillsboro, signed a free agent contract with the Blue Jays in April and spent most of the first two months of the season on the development list. But the former Arizona State Sun Devil whistled a base hit to left off Carlos Meza (3-2) to open the bottom of the ninth, his fourth consecutive game with a hit.
Leadoff batter Alan Roden followed with a deep fly ball to right that clanked off the glove of Julio Carrion at the warning track for a two-base error, pushing pinch-runner Mike Turconi to third with the winning run. Andres Sosa hit a grounder up the middle on Meza's next pitch and Turconi broke for home, but couldn't outrace second baseman S.P. Chen's throw to the plate.
With runners at first and third, the Hops intentionally walked Alex De Jesus, who had earlier hit his fifth extra base hit of the series, opting to instead face Spain, who was 1-for-12 in the series with five strikeouts at that point. The Tennessean right fielder, who has four homers and three triples against the Hops the last two seasons, never had to take the bat off his shoulder. Meza missed with his first three pitches before zipping a fastball down the middle. His next pitch missed low and inside and Spain got to be the center of a dogpile for the second time this week as he forced in his 27th RBI of the season.
Carrion gave the Hops the early lead when he roped a double into the left center field gap to score Kevin Graham and Gavin Logan, who had reached on a walk and single to right respectively. Logan returned to the field for the first time since taking a nasty shot to the man zone on an Avery Short pitch in the dirt early in Tuesday's contest. The runs were charged to 20-year-old Vancouver starting pitcher Dahian Santos, who struck out seven with two walks and allowed four hits over four innings.
Naswell Pauilno took over on the mound for Vancouver in the fifth and, like Larson, retired the first six batters he faced before a leadoff walk to Logan in the seventh. With one out, Jonathan Guzman singled to right. Channy Ortiz followed with a line shot to the right side that appeared headed to right field for a potential go-ahead hit, but Lin, playing first base, made a quick lunging stab to rob Ortiz. Lefty Ian Churchill relieved Paulino and walked Ivan Melendez on four pitches to load the bases for D'Orazio. But the hero of Thursday night's dramatic Hops win could not deliver, hitting a foul fly to Spain in right to end the inning.
The Hops have scored only one run from the seventh inning on this week, while Vancouver has scored four, including two walk-off wins. The C's run game was not a factor on Friday as they attempted just one steal unsuccessfully after swiping 14 bags in 15 attempts in the first three games of the series. The Hops stole their first two bases of the week Friday, including a 9th inning steal by Guzman that resulted in Vancouver manager Brett LaVallee being ejected.
The teams play their second of three consecutive afternoon games on Saturday at 1:05 p.m. with pregame coverage beginning at 12:50 p.m. on Rip City Radio 620 AM.
Northwest League Stories from June 16, 2023
- Rain of Spain Falls Mainly on Hops - Hillsboro Hops
- C's' Comeback Culminates with Walk-off Walk - Vancouver Canadians
- Big Fifth Inning Helps Frogs Dust Devils 4-3 - Everett AquaSox
- Two Firework Nights & Craig T. Nelson Highlight Fun-Filled Weekend - Spokane Indians
- AquaSox Cut Off Rooster Tails' Comeback - Tri-City Dust Devils
- Late C's Rally Comes up Short - Vancouver Canadians
- Stop Thief! Hops Win on Brown Out - Hillsboro Hops
- Emeralds Rally Again To Win Game 3 Against Spokane - Eugene Emeralds
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