Hops Pin Fifth Straight Loss On C's
Andrew Pintar socked a three-run home run to left field with two outs to cap a four-run seventh inning and Hillsboro's patchwork bullpen took care of the rest as the Hops (28-32 2nd half, 52-74 overall) defeated the Vancouver Canadians 4-2 on Sunday, wrapping up their season series against the
Andrew Pintar socked a three-run home run to left field with two outs to cap a four-run seventh inning and Hillsboro's patchwork bullpen took care of the rest as the Hops (28-32 2nd half, 52-74 overall) defeated the Vancouver Canadians 4-2 on Sunday, wrapping up their season series against the Northwest League leaders with five consecutive wins, the last two coming in front of sellout crowds of 6,413.
Zach Barnes (5-4) pitched two hitless, scoreless innings in the sixth and seventh to earn the win. Eli Saul, who started game two of Thursday's doubleheader, held the C's in check over the final two innings to earn his third Hops' save.
The five straight wins matches the longest winning streak at Nat Bailey Stadium in Hops' history. Hillsboro swept a 5-game series up north in the 2017 season and won all three games they played north of the border during the 2019 championship season.
The Hops were reduced to an 11-man pitching staff by the end of this week after an injury, a promotion and a suspension. Billy Corcoran bounced back from a rocky Wednesday relief outing to hold Vancouver (36-24, 74-51) scoreless over the first three innings in a spot start. The 6-8 righty from the Philadelphia area fanned two with one walk and one hit.
The Canadians took a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning, capitalizing on two of Hillsboro's four errors in the contest, but it was a Vancouver error that opened the door to Hillsboro's seventh-inning explosion.
With runners at first and third and none out, Manuel Pena hit a line drive off lefty Cooper Benson (7-3) that caromed off the glove of second baseman Estiven Machado into shallow center. Christian Cerda scored to make a 2-1 Vancouver lead. Two outs later, with runners still at first and second, Pintar jumped on the first pitch from Benson and drilled a home run into the left field grandstands.
Vancouver got only one runner as far as second base after the fourth inning. Glenn Santiago doubled with one out off Saul in the ninth. But the big righty, a native of Vancouver, fanned Machado and got Kekai Rios to ground out to short to end the game.
The Hops won despite being outhit 6-5 and committing three more errors that the Canadians. Santiago was one of the C's few bright spots during the week, driving in eight runs in four games, while making spectacular plays in multiple spots on the field, none bigger than the home run he took away from Gavin Logan in the third inning, going over the wall in left field to bring it back. Santiago went 2-for-4 with an RBI Sunday, and finished the week with two doubles, a triple and a homer.
Benson, a lefty out of Arizona State, fell to 0-3 against the Hops. He is 7-0 against the rest of the NWL.
The Hops return to Ron Tonkin Field to finish off the 2023 campaign against the Spokane Indians. Weekday game times will be at 6:35 p.m., Saturday's game is at 4:05 p.m. and Sunday's season finale is at 1:05.