Dominant Outing from John West Leads Hops to Victory
Hillsboro, OR (May 14, 2026) - The Hillsboro Hops earned a hard-fought game three victory over the Spokane Indians at the new Hillsboro Hops Ballpark on Thursday night behind five scoreless innings of relief from John West and another home run from Alberto Barriga, who hit his sixth of the
Hillsboro, OR (May 14, 2026) - The Hillsboro Hops earned a hard-fought game three victory over the Spokane Indians at the new Hillsboro Hops Ballpark on Thursday night behind five scoreless innings of relief from John West and another home run from Alberto Barriga, who hit his sixth of the season and extended his hit streak to 13-games in the 6-2 win.
Spokane opened the scoring in the first inning against Brian Curley, when Roynier Hernandez drove in Caleb Hobson with an RBI single. Max Belyeu later doubled, and Hernandez scored on a wild pitch to give the Indians an early 2-0 lead. The two first inning runs would be all they got in the game.
Hillsboro responded quickly in the bottom half of the first with two runs of their own. Singles from Yassel Soler and Trent Youngblood, along with a walk by Alberto Barriga, loaded the bases before Yerald Nin reached on a fielder’s choice and throwing error that allowed two runs to score. The error was charged to SS Kelvin Hildago, who was charged with two in the game.
The Hops added a single run in each of the second and third innings to take a 4-2 lead. Wallace Clark began the second with a single and stolen base and later scored on a Slade Caldwell groundout. Then, in the third Alberto Barriga extended his hit streak to 13-games with a solo home run against Lebarron Johnson Jr., 108 MPH off the bat to make it 4-2.
Brian Curley struck out seven over 3.1 innings of work and gave the ball to Rocco Reid who got the final two outs of the fourth.
Hillsboro tacked on an insurance run in the fifth and seventh innings on a groundout and sacrifice fly, extending the lead to 6-2. John West came in and dominated the late innings with five scoreless frames for the Hops. West retired the final 10 batters he faced, including striking out four of them looking.
The right-hander closed the game in the ninth inning by retiring Juan Castillo, Kelvin Hidalgo, and Robert Calaz in order, securing the game three win for Hillsboro.
Despite going 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position, the Hops were able to get the win. Yerald Nin added two more stolen bases, giving him 15 on the season—second in the league to Tevin Tucker of Spokane.
The Hops have won two consecutive over the Indians and will continue the series tomorrow night at Hops Ballpark. There will be a drone show postgame, with first pitch at 6:35 on Rip City Radio 620 AM and Bally Sports Live.