The score wasn’t close as the Hillsboro Hops downed the Vancouver Canadians 6-0, but something else was.  The Hops combined pitching staff had a potential no-hitter going until the top of the ninth inning.  To lead off the final inning for the Canadians, left fielder Norberto Obeso singled to his counterpart Hops Dan Swain to break up the bid.  With the bases loaded and no outs, All-Star closer Erbert Gonzalez came to the mound and struck out two before getting the third batter to fly out to right field to end the game.

Brian Shaffer started the first two innings for the Hops, keeping the Vancouver bats silent.  Kevin McCanna (W, 1-0) stayed into the eighth continuing the zeroes on the board and striking out nine.  Matt Brill relieved the eighth to take the potential no-hitter into the final inning.  It was there that Obeso ruined the chances with his lead-off line drive.

Juan Nunez (L, 2-5) pitched the first six innings for the Canadians and took the loss allowing three runs on six hits.

Where Canadian batters struggled at the plate, Hops batters seemed to have their way early.  Nine hits that included four doubles and a home run spanked the plate for six runs throughout the game.

The first run came in the fourth with back-to-back doubles by Camden Duzenack and Pavin Smith.  Two more came in the following inning when Dan Swain led off by being hit by a pitch and then coming home later in the inning with a ground-rule double by Briam Araiza.  Ryan Grotjohn, who had reached base on a single, followed Swain home on a Duzenack sacrifice fly.

Those three runs were enough to help McCanna earn the win but the Hops were still adding to the total.  Three more runs came in the seventh.  The inning started with Bobby Eveld (brother of former Hops pitcher Tommy) taking the mound in relief for Vancouver.  Eveld quickly got two outs on the home team but then the wheels fell off.

Duzenack was hit by another pitch and stole second, coming home on a Pavin Smith single.  While Camden was motoring home, Pavin was able to take second on the throw.  Drew Ellis came to the plate and smacked the game’s sole homer, his team-leading sixth, a two -run shot over the left field fence.

Camden Duzenack, Tim Susnara and Pavin Smith led the way with multi-hit games.

The win kept the Hillsboro Hops (6-4) in a first-place tie with the Eugene Emeralds.  With the loss, the Vancouver Canadians (4-6) remain three games behind the Northern Division-leading Spokane Indians.  Both teams return to a Sunday 4pm game to continue the five-game series.  Hillsboro leads 2-1.

Expected pitchers are RHP Colton Laws (0-0) for Vancouver and RHP Tyler Badamo (0-0) for the Hops.

Hops notes: Yeison Santana was sent down to the Missoula Osprey, a Rookie League affiliate of the Diamondback farm system.  In two games, both as a reliever, Santana struck out eight in 6.1 innings.  He also allowed ten runs (nine earned) in that same time frame.  He is from the Dominican Republic.

Boxscore

By Greg Stoker
@GDStoker