Hops Crushing Entering Final Stretch Of Season

SPOKANE VALLEY, Wash. -- While the postseason again seems to be tantalizingly out of Hillsboro's reach in 2026, the Hops are not yet officially eliminated with two weeks remaining. And their offense seems to be peaking.

Hillsboro completed a weekend for the ages with a 14-6 win over the Spokane Indians Sunday. With the victory, the Hops won the series four games to two and took the season series with the Rockies affiliate 16 to 14 with an 8-4 record at Avista Stadium this year. However, should the teams end up tied for first (or second behind Eugene) in the second half standings, the Indians would own a tiebreaker over Hillsboro by virtue of a better head-to-head second half record.

The Hops scored 29 runs on 32 hits to win the final two games of the series and all of the weather hallmarks were there to indicate the ball would be flying at Avista Stadium;

Kenny Castillo had one of the best individual, single-game performances in Hillsboro history, which is saying something considering all of the big games Hops players had over the last two days. The Hops 1B/C smacked home runs in his first two trips to the plate off Indians' starting pitcher Yuma Herrera (1-5), then added an RBI triple and a walk in his next two plate appearances against the Tribe bullpen, scoring four and driving in five runs on a career day.

Hillsboro seized control with a six-run first inning (Editors Note: I initially typed "put the game away" before realizing the folly of that statement in a series that featured not one, but two eight-run comebacks). Castillo's three-run bomb to left highlighted the opening outburst.

Chris Katz, who had one of the greatest debuts in professional baseball history on Saturday, had an RBI single out of the cleanup spot in his first trip to the plate, giving the ninth round pick out of Mercer University a 6-for-7 start to his pro career. It would be Katz's only hit on this day, but he reached base two other times after being hit by pitches (if you can't beat 'em, hit 'em), and blasted three other balls deep into the outfield.

The Hops got out to a 9-1 lead on Castillo's RBI triple and an Adrian Rodriguez sac fly in the top of the fifth, but the Indians would cut the gap in half with two runs in the fifth off starter Rio Britton, and two more in the sixth off Rocco Reid.

Nate Savino (5-2) came on to get three straight outs with runners on base in the sixth and pitched a scoreless seventh inning after giving up back-to-back singles. Newest Hop Augie Mojica, signed away from the Boise Hawks in the Pioneer League last year by the Diamondbacks after two years at San Jacinto College in Texas, made his Hillsboro debut, limiting Spokane to one run over the final two innings.

Carlos Virahonda put fears of another big Indians comeback to rest with a grand slam off Ishmael Luciano in the top half of the seventh. Kayson Cunningham polished off the scoring by following with a deep solo home run to right center off Grif Hughes.

Hillsboro got two hits, including a double from Adrian Rodriguez and Abdias De La Cruz added his third double and fourth extra base hit in two days with a two-bagger out of the nine-hole, giving the Hops five extra base hits from the bottom third of their order Sunday.

The Hops two-day hit and run totals were a franchise record and this was almost certainly the highest scoring series in Hops history with games of 12-10, 15-13 and 14-6.

And Hillsboro gained a game in the playoff chase as Vancouver's ninth inning rally at P.K. Park fell short in a 6-5 loss to the Eugene Emeralds, who regained possession of first place in the Northwest League second-half standings by a half game over the Canadians.

The Hops now trail the C's by six games with 12 remaining in the season. Yes, a tall order, but not an impossible task, considering the Hops need only tie the C's or the Everett AquaSox in order to reach the promised land, provided the tie is for first or second behind Eugene.

The Hops will continue that effort at home starting Tuesday night against the Tri-City Dust Devils. Pregame airtime is at 6:20 p.m. with first pitch at 6:35 p.m. on Rip City Radio 620 and the Bally Live app.