Hops Have a Blast

On Saturday night, the Hillsboro Hops bounced back with a 9-6 win over the Vancouver Canadians. Last night, the long ball for the Cs proved to be the catalyst. However, tonight it was the Hops swinging the big sticks, as the club bashed four round trippers. Red-hot Tristin English lifted two of the shots, while Jorge Barrosa and Blaze Alexander added one apiece.

The Hops turned to Justin Vernia to help improve their recent struggles in the starting rotation. The right hander mowed down the Canadians in order in the top of the first.

Hillsboro's offense didn't wait long to take off against Vancouver's starter Alex Nolan . Barrosa (4) led off with a homer on a fly ball over the right field fence to give the Hops the early lead. The Hops followed with a nice bit of two-out hitting, starting with a single from English. After Axel Andueza took one for the team, Cam Coursey drove a fly ball just over the reaching glove of left fielder Zac Cook that turned into a two-run triple. The Hops added a final run on an RBI single by Nick Dalesandro to give the club a 4-0 lead.

As they have done all series, the Cs bounced right back with two runs in the top of the second. Leading off the inning, Vernia allowed a double to Orelvis Martinez followed by a homer by Will Robertson (4). The top of the third proved to be more of the same as Vancouver added three more runs to take the lead. The first five batters of the inning reached base, including a two-run double by Tanner Morris and an RBI single by Spencer Horwitz to give the Cs a 5-4 lead.

The Canadians' lead wouldn't last long though as English tied it up with a solo blast on a high fly ball to left center field. Just as they did in the first, the Hops delivered more clutch two-out hitting, starting off with a walk by Coursey. After Dalesandro singled for his second straight at-bat, Elijah Greene lined a two-run double to left field to put Hillsboro back on top 7-5.

A bit of Hops' history took place in the bottom of the fourth. Alexander (10) and English (9) became the first Hops duo to hit back-to-back homers since 2018 -- Hillsboro accomplished this feat four times that year. English also became the ninth Hop with two home runs in one game, and the first ever to do so at home.

Despite Vernia's struggles in the early innings, the right hander was still able to give the Hops six innings. Vernia conceded one final run in the top of the fifth, but pitched a clean sixth. Overall, Vernia allowed six earned runs to go along with five punch outs.

Hillsboro's bullpen was outstanding over the last three frames. Liu Fuenmayor took over for Vernia and tossed a scoreless seventh. Yaramil Hiraldo delivered a six-out save (8), including an inning ending double play to get the Hops back on track.

In a game filled with milestones, the Hops hit four home runs in a game for the third time in their history, and the first time ever at home. Tonight was the 337th Hops home game (including 11 in the postseason). Also, the six home runs between the two teams (combined), matches the second-most ever in a Hops game, and is the most ever at Ron Tonkin Field. There had been eight in a game at Salem-Keizer in 2018 (four for each team), and six at Salem-Kaizer in 2014 (three for each team) -- this was while the Hops were playing at the Short Season-A level in the Northwest League. Three times there have been five home runs in a game, once at home, the previous high.

Hillsboro (45-55) will look to win the series against Vancouver (46-55) tomorrow at 1:05 pm. Catch all the action on Rip City Radio 620 AM and www.RipCityRadio.com with the pregame coverage beginning at 12:50.