Hops Fall Behind Early in 7-3 Loss to Tri-City

August 28 (Hillsboro, OR)- The Hillsboro Hops dropped a 7-3 game against the Tri-City Dust Devils on Friday night. The Hops struggled to find their groove early, failing to score until the fifth inning while already trailing 5-0.

Hops starting pitcher Rio Britton had a short and shaky outing on the mound. After issuing a leadoff walk, Britton bounced back with two consecutive strikeouts. He quickly lost control after the strikeouts, walking the bases loaded and then issuing a bases-loaded walk to make it 1-0. Augie Mojica entered the game for Britton with two outs and the bases loaded. Mojica struck out a batter to escape the jam.

The Dust Devils piled on in the third, plating three more runs. Kendrey Maduro started it off with a double, and reached third on a passed ball from Carlos Virahonda. Virahonda had entered the game that inning as a defensive substitution. Harold Coll then singled to bring in Maduro, Adrian Placencia doubled to bring in Coll, and Jorge Ruiz singled to score Placencia, giving Tri-City a 4-0 lead. Mojica struck out two and recorded one flyout.

After three and a third innings of relief, Mojica’s time on the bump had come to an end. He struck out three, walked one, gave up six hits, and three earned runs. Nate Savino took over with two on in the fifth. Savino hit a batter to load the bases, and Ruiz singled once again to score a run and make it 5-0, Tri-City.

After four and two-thirds shutout innings from Dust Devil starter Mason McGwire, a leadoff walk from Virahonda sparked some action for the Hops. Yerald Nin then singled to put runners on the corners, and while trying to steal home and second, Virahonda was caught stealing at the plate. Modeifi Marte struck out for the second out of the inning. Jakey Josepha hit an RBI single, scoring the Hops first run of the game, still down 5-1.

McGwire threw five innings, striking out six and allowing one earned run on four hits. Zachary Redner took over, throwing two shutout innings with four strikeouts. For Hillsboro, Savino went two shutout innings and recorded four strikeouts. Joe Ariola entered the game in the seventh, throwing two straight three up-three down innings.

Kyle Roche started the eighth inning on the mound for Tri-City. A sacrifice fly from José Mejía plated a run, cutting the Hops’ deficit to 5-2 and scoring Jakey Josepha, who reached on a triple.

Ariola gave up two singles and a double, allowing Tri-City to tack on another run, 6-2. Luke Doston then took the ball with one out in the inning. With two on, a single scored a second run in the inning to extend the lead to 7-2. Ariola then issued a walk to load the bases, but recorded a strikeout to end it.

Sam Tookian threw the ninth for the Dust Devils. Hillsboro rallied with three singles to make it a 7-3 ballgame, but could not manage more runs in the rally, taking the 7-3 loss.

The Hops pitching staff combined for 14 strikeouts, while the Dust Devils had 13. Offensively, Tri-City outhit Hillsboro 12 hits to eight.

Game six of the series begins at 1:05 PM on Sunday. The pregame show starts at 12:45 PM on 620 AM RipCity Radio and BallyLive.