Vancouver Slams Hops 8-2, Caps Six-Game Sweep 

BOX SCORE

VANCOUVER, B.C. --- Vancouver native Damiano Palmegiani hit a fifth-inning grand slam off Hops starter Scott Randall to highlight the Canadians’ 8-2 win on Sunday afternoon at Nat Bailey Stadium. The Canadians swept all six games from Hillsboro --- out-scoring the Hops 43-16 in the series --- dropping the Hops six and a half games out in the second-half playoff race.

The Canadians struck first, with three runs in the bottom of the second. Tyler Keenan hit a pop double down the left-field line that should have been caught, but Hops left fielder Neyfy Castillo over-ran it. Miguel Hiraldo hit a looper into left to put runners at the corners with none out. Riley Tirotta lifted a sacrifice fly to right to score the first run, and three batters later, leadoff man Steward Berroa doubled home a pair to make it 3-0.

Hillsboro didn’t get their first hit until the top of the fifth inning. Vancouver starter Alejandro Melean, coming off a stint on the IL because of Covid and a subsequent non-Covid illness, worked the first two innings, striking out three. Abdiel Mendoza replaced him in the top of the third, and had retired all six men he had faced when Cam Coursey doubled leading off the fifth. He went to third on Jarrod Watkins’ ground-out, and scored on Danny Oriente’s ground-out.

The C’s blew the game open in the bottom of the fifth. Berroa tripled to right --- Vancouver’s ninth triple of the series, and, incredibly, 24th in 24 games against Hillsboro --- Leo Jimenez was hit by a pitch, and Zach Britton walked to load the bases. Palmegiani then smoked a low line drive that just barely cleared the short wall at the home-run porch in left. It was the first grand slam the Hops have given up this year, and it put the Canadians up 7-1. They added a run later in the inning on a Hugo Cardona sacrifice fly.

Randall allowed eight runs (all earned) on eight hits over 4.1 innings. Three pitchers out of the Hops’ bullpen --- Jose Alcantara, Christian Montes De Oca, and Kyle Backhus --- combined for 3.2 shutout innings, but the Hops’ offense couldn’t get much else going against the Vancouver ’pen. Garrett Farmer pitched around a single and a walk to work a scoreless sixth, and Will McAffer had a perfect seventh.

Hops catcher Ramses Malave hit his first home run of the season off Juan Nunez leading off the eighth, but after Ryan Bliss walked, Nunez struck out the next three hitters. Ryan Boyer worked a 1-2-3 ninth to finish the game.

Hillsboro is 8-13 in the second half, and 37-48 overall. Vancouver is 14-6, 44-39, and they’ve won eight straight.

The Hops and the rest of the Northwest League have Monday through Thursday off, before Tri-City comes to Ron Tonkin Field to open a three-game series on Friday. Following that series, Hillsboro will play their next 12 on the road --- six in Eugene, and six in Everett.

Friday’s game will begin at 7:05PM, with pregame airtime from Hillsboro at 6:50 on Rip City Radio 620AM and www.RipCityRadio.com.