Hops Clinch "Battle Of The Boro" With Third Straight W
For the first time this season, the Hillsboro Hops won the first three games of a series and in so doing, clinched the head-to-head series against their Ron Tonkin Field co-tenants. Four Hops pitchers combined to limit the Vancouver Canadians to four hits and Elian Miranda went 3-for-3 with three
For the first time this season, the Hillsboro Hops won the first three games of a series and in so doing, clinched the head-to-head series against their Ron Tonkin Field co-tenants.
Four Hops pitchers combined to limit the Vancouver Canadians to four hits and Elian Miranda went 3-for-3 with three runs batted in as the Hops (51-59) defeated the C's 7-4 Thursday night at The Tonk. Hillsboro is now 16-11 against the Canadians (54-63) with three games remaining this season.
Miranda's two-RBI triple in the top of the seventh inning broke a 3-all tie, part of a four-run frame against Vancouver reliever Roither Hernandez (0-1).
Hops reliever Jose Santamaria (1-0) surrendered a solo home run to Davis Schneider to lead off the bottom of the sixth. That tied the game at three. It was the only baserunner against the Hops pen as Santamaria pitched two innings in his Hillsboro debut, Kyler Stout struck out the side in the eighth and Yaramil Hiraldo retired the side in the ninth to close it out.
Lefty Kyle Backhus got the start on the mound for the Hops and took a no-hitter into the fifth, but got rocked for three extra base hits and two runs before giving way to Santamaria in the sixth. Backhus struck out four and walked one in his second start at High-A.
The Hops had broken a scoreless tie with two runs in the fourth inning off Vancouver's 19-year-old Dutch starting pitcher Sem Robberse. Axel Andueza extended his hitting streak to 10 games with an RBI double, scoring A.J. Vukovich, who had led off with a single. After a steal of third by Andueza, Miranda drove him home with a line drive base hit to right. The Nicaraguan first baseman reached base four times on the night.
After Vancouver tied the game in the fifth, the Hops regained the lead when Nick Dalesandro scored on a passed ball in the top of the sixth inning. The Hillsboro catcher saw his 9-game hit streak end, but walked twice, stole two bases and scored two runs. Dalesandro now leads the High-A West League in steals with 32.
Andueza also scored twice and had two hits and Vukovich went 2-for-5 with a triple. Schneider also tripled and scored to go with his home run for Vancouver.