Six in a Row...Just a Matter of Course(y)
August 12, 2021 - Northwest League (NWL)
Hillsboro Hops News Release
On Wednesday night, the Hillsboro Hops defeated the Eugene Emeralds 10-6 for their sixth straight win. The contest was fueled by five long balls, three from the Hops and two from the Ems. Marcos Tineo earned his first win of the season for the Hops with five innings of three run ball -- Tineo was a key piece of Hillsboro's 2019 championship team while still playing in the Northwest League in Short Season A-Ball.
Tineo got off to a rocky start, allowing two runs in the top of the first. With one out and Tyler Fitzgerald on second, Armani Smith lined a home run to left field to put the Ems up 2-0.
Hillsboro responded in the bottom of the third when Eduardo Diaz belted a two-out solo blast to right field. This extended Diaz's team-high franchise-record to 12 round trippers. Diaz has now homered in consecutive games.
The Hops remained hot and took the lead in their half of the fourth with three more runs. Like Diaz, Blaze Alexander (6) came up with two outs and drilled a solo homer over the left field fence to tie the game. Hillsboro continued their success with two outs when Cam Coursey delivered his first homer of the season, a two-run blast to put the Hops on top 4-2.
Tineo settled in and was scoreless from the second through the fourth inning. However, the right hander ran into trouble in the fifth after a lead-off double by Heath Quinn . Tineo forced a ground out and fly out, but a wild pitch allowed Quinn to move to third base and a triple by Marco Luciano brought him around to score -- Luciano is the number one prospect in the San Francisco Giants farm system. Tineo responded by forcing Smith to ground out to short to preserve the Hops 4-3 lead.
Hillsboro's bats provided insurance for Tineo and the bullpen with two more runs in their half of the fifth. Jorge Barrosa and Tristin English led off with singles to put runners on the corners. On a fielder's choice and an error by Logan Wyatt , Andy Yerzy brought home Barrosa to put the Hops back up by two. Ems relief pitcher Travis Perry threw a wild pitch and walked Spencer Brickhouse to load the bases with nobody out. A.J. Vukovich squandered a golden opportunity after grounding into a double play, but it did bring English into score to put the Hops up 6-3.
As these games tend to go, the Ems clawed back with a run in the top of the sixth and seventh to narrow their deficit to 6-5. Sean Roby (13) belted Eugene's second homer of the contest in the sixth and Luciano drove in his second run of the game with a sac fly in the seventh.
The comeback was not meant to be though as the Hops continued to pummel the Ems bullpen. English led off the bottom of the seventh with a ground rule double and Leodany Perez came into pinch run. Brickhouse brought in Perez with an RBI line drive single to left field and moved to second base. Vukovich followed with his first RBI of the game on a line drive single of his own.
Hillsboro added another two runs in the bottom of the eighth on RBIs by Barrosa and Yerzy. Yaramil Hiraldo closed the door with a scoreless ninth inning, earning his seventh save of the season. The Hops finished with 14 hits, including three homers (Diaz, Coursey and Alexander). Barrosa and Coursey had three hits apiece and Yerzy added two RBIs.
Hillsboro (41-44) will continue their playoff push against the Eugene (49-36) again tomorrow at 7:05 pm. Catch all the action on Rip City Radio 620 AM and www.RipCityRadio.com with the pregame coverage beginning at 6:50.
Northwest League Stories from August 12, 2021
- Throwback Thursday Is Back - Everett AquaSox
- Six in a Row...Just a Matter of Course(y) - Hillsboro Hops
- Late Surge Puts C's on Top - Vancouver Canadians
- Fiftieth Win Continues to Elude Ems - Eugene Emeralds
- Late Vancouver Offense Stumps 'Sox, 10-4 - Everett AquaSox
- Tri-City Handed Shutout Loss - Tri-City Dust Devils
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