Dansby Swanson 5-for-6 in Hops 12-0 Win

BOISE, IDAHO --- He was the number-one overall pick in the 2015 draft, but he pays no attention to labels. "I'm just Dansby," he says. And that's plenty good enough. Hops shortstop Dansby Swanson --- the first number-one overall pick to begin his career in the Northwest League since Ken Griffey Jr. in Bellingham in 1987 --- went 5-for-6 in Hillsboro's 12-0 rout in Boise on Thursday night. It was Hillsboro's 10th shutout of the season, tying the Northwest League record.

The win leaves the first-half champion Hops (42-31 overall, 20-15 second half) one game behind Eugene in the South Division second-half race. Hillsboro will be at home over the weekend to face Eugene in the final three games of the regular season; the winner of the series takes the second-half title.

Hops starting pitcher Carlos Hernandez threw six scoreless innings, lowering his ERA from 2.50 to 2.32. Hernandez will likely win the league ERA crown --- Salem-Keizer's Drew Leenhouts, who is second in the league at 2.57, would need 7.2 innings with no earned runs in his final start on Saturday in Boise to drop below Hernandez.

Swanson kick-started the offense in the top of the first with a ringing triple to right-center, then scored on Grant Heyman's ground ball.

The Hops added five runs in the top of the third on five hits and three Boise errors. Trevor Mitsui singled home a run, Alexis Olmeda added an RBI ground-out, and Gerard Hernandez and Nate Robertson each smoked RBI doubles.

Mitsui's sacrifice fly in the fourth gave him 38 RBIs on the season, breaking the franchise single-season record of 37 set by Heyman in 2014. Mitsui added a two-run double in the Hops' five run eighth, giving him four RBIs on the night, 40 for the season, and a staggering 26 in his last 18 games.

But the real story of the night was Swanson. His fourth hit of the night was a hard-hit bad-hop single past third in the sixth, and in the eighth, his swinging-bunt tapper up the third base line stayed fair, making him 5-for-5. The five hits matched a franchise record set by Steve Nyisztor in Boise last year.

As the Hops' eighth inning continued --- Mitsui's two-run double was followed immediately by a two-run double from Luis Veras --- it became possible that Swanson might get a chance at a sixth hit. And when Robertson singled and Sergio Alcantara doubled with one out in the ninth, he got his shot.

Swanson, though, struck out on a 1-2 curveball from Boise reliever Alec Kenilvort. His 5-for-6 night fell one hit shy of tying the Northwest League record for hits in a single game.

Zach Nehrir, in his second game back after missing five weeks with a wrist injury, went 2-for-6 with a double, an RBI and two runs scored.

Left-hander Cody Reed, a starter the entire season, worked a scoreless seventh inning in relief in a tune-up for his start in the playoff opener on Monday. Will Landsheft pitched around a leadoff double in the eighth by striking out the next three hitters, and Brody Greer worked a 1-2-3 ninth to seal the shutout.

The Hops' 10th shutout of the season matches the record set by Boise in 1990 and equaled by Vancouver in 2002 and Tri-City in 2011.

Friday night's series opener against Eugene starts at 7:05PM at Ron Tonkin Field in Hillsboro. The radio pregame show begins at 6:35 on Rip City Radio 620AM and RipCityRadio.com.