Old Adages Prove True, C’s Win 6-0

VANCOUVER, WASH. (May 3, 2025) --- There are a pair of old lines in baseball, oft-repeated because they’re true. Good pitching beats good hitting. And momentum is only as good as the next day’s starting pitcher.

Those lines showed their veracity again on Saturday at Nat Bailey Stadium in Vancouver. The Hillsboro Hops had notched a combined 32 hits and 19 runs in a pair of wins north of the border on Thursday and Friday. But Canadians’ starter Grant Rogers and a pair of relievers were up to the task on Saturday, and they held Hillsboro to just two hits. Vancouver won, 6-0.

The Canadians scored three times in the first inning against Hops’ starter Yordin Chalas, two on a double by Cutter Coffey and one on a single by Sean Keys.

They padded that lead with three unearned runs in the third. Hops third baseman Jansel Luis threw wildly to first on what should have been a routine second out of the inning. Later in the frame, Keys had an RBI single, Brennan Orf had an RBI ground-out (on a scintillating diving play by Hops shortstop Cristofer Torin) and another run came home on a Chalas wild pitch.

Hillsboro’s best chance to get back into the game came in the top of the sixth. Rogers issued a one-out walk, and with two out, hit back-to-back batters to load the bases. He was lifted in favor of Pat Gallagher, who struck out Druw Jones to end the threat.

Rogers allowed two hits and struck out four in 5.2 innings. Gallagher worked 2.1 hitless frames with no walks and three strikeouts. And Chay Yeager worked a perfect ninth, retiring all three hitters on fly outs to center field.

Counterintuitively, the Hops --- who own the highest batting average in the NWL (.264 entering Saturday) and score the most runs per game (6.0 entering Saturday) --- have been shut out four times, most in the league.

Hillsboro (15-11) leads the Northwest League by a half game over Eugene, pending the outcome of the Emeralds’ game at home against Everett on Saturday night. Vancouver (13-13) is two games out.

The Hops will shoot for a split of the six-game series in the finale on Sunday afternoon. Airtime will be 12:50PM on Rip City Radio 620AM and www.RipCityRadio.com, with first pitch at 1:05PM.