The Hops fall short to the Vancouver Canadians 5-1 in the Hillsboro home opener.  A crowd of 4061 came to cheer the Hops on and wave their rally towels handed out before the game.  But, all of the waving cotton couldn’t help the Hops catch up.

Canadians take the early lead

The Canadians scored early and had five runs before the Hops could get their sole run in the bottom of the seventh.  Andy Yerzy led off with a towering fly ball to shallow centerfield that got lost in the lights. By the time it bounced on the ground in front of CF Cameron Eden, Yerzy was just steps away from the bag at second.

Yerzy came home on Kristian Robinson’s RBI single.  With Jesus Marriaga on second after being hit by a pitch and a single by Robinson, the Hops had two runners still on base with no outs.  But, a fielder’s choice and a double play sucked the wind out of the rally.

Marcos Tineo started the game for the Hops and quickly ran into trouble against the power saws of the Canadian’s bats.  Ronny Brito smacked a ground rule double and then scored the game’s first run in the second off of Cameron Eden’ RBI single.  The following inning, Brito singled home Yorman Rodriguez for the game’s second run. Then the dam burst open.

Franklyn Soriano douses the Fire

Cameron Eden and Tanner Morris led off the fourth with a single and a walk.  In came Franklyn Soriano to try and put out the fire. Before he could stop the bleeding, he allowed an RBI single from Luis De Los Santos to score Eden.  After a single from Yorman Rodriguez, a fielder’s choice from Trevor Schwecke scored Morris. Both inherited runners were credited to Tineo. It could have been worse if not for a sharp throw from RF Kristian Robinson to keep Morris from scoring and Rodriguez taking third.

Things started swinging the Hops way with a defensive play by Ricky Martinez.  Taking in a ground ball from Los Santos, Martinez quickly stepped on third for the force and then threw to Yerzy at first for the double play.  It was enough to slow down the momentum.

Hops Bats Start to Warm Up

After Andy Yerzy stopped the potential no hitter from happening, Hops bats seemed to relax a little bit.  Kristian Robinson and Nick Grande singled to go with Steven Leyton’s double. Add two walks (Jesus Marriaga and Nick Dalesandro) to go with two hit batters (Steven Leyton and Marriaga), all seven base runners appeared from the fourth inning onward.

It wasn’t enough to stop the Hops fall with the tight pitching of Grant Townsend for the Canadians.  In 73 pitches Townsend mowed down eight Hops batters with K’s and faced only 20 batters in the first six innings.  Two above the 18 set for the pace of a perfect game. Manager Casey Candaele pulled Townsend once the no hitter was not possible.  It was a shame that Townsend lost the bid on a ball lost in the lights

For the Canadians, five different batters had a multi hit game with two apiece.  Also, the runs and RBIs were equally split among the batters with no one having more than one.

Standings

The loss let the HIllsboro Hops fall (4-4) into third place, one game behind the Southern Division leading Eugene Emeralds (5-3) and Salem-Keizer Volcanoes (5-3).  The win drew the Vancouver Canadians (3-5) into a third place tie with the Tri City Dust Devils, three games behind the Northern Division leading Spokane Indians.

Both teams return to Ron Tonkin Field Saturday night for game two of the four game series.  Adrian Del Moral (1-0) will start for the Hops. His last appearance was Sunday where he pitched five innings with seven strikeouts for the win.  The Canadians have William Gaston (0-0) starting. Gaston’s last appearance was also Sunday where he pitched five innings and gave up two earned runs for the no decision.

Check out the Hops games so far this season.

Box Score

By

Greg Stoker

@GDStoker