Hillsboro Hops beat the weather and a baseball team at the same time as the Tri City Dust Devils fall 5-3.  The rain threatened to stop the game over the last several innings before the umpires made the decision.  Now, word is waiting on whether the 6th game, scheduled for today, will be played or postponed.

Reece Hampton Triple

Leading off the bottom of the seventh, Reece Hampton smacked a triple and scored from Buddy Kennedy’s sacrifice fly to give the Hops the lead for good.  In a twist, Buddy stayed at first when the Dust Devil’s left fielder Francisco Del Valle bobbled the fly ball.  After a stolen base and a wild pitch by Dust Devils’ pitcher Cristopher Moline (L, 2-2) sent Buddy to third, Tristin English drew a walk with the bases loaded for the final score, 5-3.

But, the Dust Devils still had one more chance.  In the top of the eighth, with rain threatening another delay, relief pitcher Nick Snyder (S, 5) could not get a dry grip on the ball after getting the first two outs.  With a double by Franklin Torres and two walks, the Dust Devils loaded the bases putting the tying run on second and the go ahead run on first.  In a clutch situation, Nick went ahead in the count on Kyle Kasser and Kasser flew out to Hops’ center fielder Eduardo Diaz to end the inning.

Hillsboro Hops Beat Tri City After Final Rain Delay

The rains were ever present up to this point and the umpires called a rain delay, conferring with both managers before making their final decision.  They could have taken 30 minutes to make the decision but they decided in just a few with agreements all around.  They called the game and the Hillsboro Hops beat the Tri City Dust Devils 5-3.

The only question left: will there be a second game today to complete the double header?  If the second game is called as well, then, the Hillsboro Hops beat the Tri City Dust Devils 5-3. They are considered the winner of the series 3-2, even though the final game could be played when these two teams meet later in the season.  If so, I would consider the Hops at least temporary winners of the series.

(note: game six has now been suspended to later in the season)

First Inning Blip

Both starting pitchers started with giving up one run in the first inning.  First, the Hops’ Drey Jameson gave up a one-out solo home run to Brendon Davis in the top half.  Then, Dust Devils’ P Zach Linginfelter gave up a double to the Hops’ Buddy Kennedy.  After two walks loaded the bases, Buddy scored on a double play to tie the game in the bottom half.

Then, both pitchers settled in and stopped the scoring until the fourth inning.  Hops starter Drey Jameson went a strong 91 pitches over 4.2 innings allowing one more score.  Brendon Davis led off with a single and scored on Spencer Griffin’s RBI single.  Dust Devils’ starting pitcher Zach Linginfelter threw 65 pitches over four innings allowing only one more hit, a single by Buddy Kennedy.  All on Saturday for both pitchers.

But, the rains came and the game delayed for the obligatory 30 minutes wait-and-see period.  The umpires suspended the game until Sunday.  It would have been finished before the regularly scheduled sixth game this afternoon which was later suspended as well.

Resuming Game

Both teams started off Sunday with new pitchers: Christopher Molina for Tri City and Blake Workman (W, 2-0) for Hillsboro.  Molina had a rocky start.  But first, Workman started the afternoon by inducing a three pitch fly out to end the top of the fifth inning which had started the day before.

When Molina’s turn came, Cristopher gave up Brickhouse’s triple and allowed the next tying run to cross the plate.  (There were three tying runs in the game)  Reece Hampton walked and scored after that.  Two more Hops runs came in the eighth inning for the final score.

Standings

At the time of publishing, both games in the NW League between Eugene@Everett and Vancouver@Spokane have yet to start.  In the meantime, the Hillsboro Hops (16-18) are five games back of leader Everett.  The Tri City Dust Devils (12-23) are 9.5 games back as well.  Both teams have a day off on Monday.  On Tuesday, Hillsboro will travel down to Eugene to begin a new series with an old foe.  It hasn’t been that long since we’ve seen them but you can refresh your memory by reading my game recap of the Hops sweep of the Ems in a double header back on May 11th.

The Tri City Dust Devils will go home and host the Everett Aquasox who currently lead the league.

Box Score

By

Greg Stoker

@GDStoker