July 22 (Hillsboro, OR)- The Hillsboro Hops gave up six runs in the last two innings to take an 8-6 loss against the Vancouver Canadians on Wednesday night.
In the second inning, Carlos Virahonda singled, followed by a double from Kayson Cunningham to put two on. Brady Counsell walked to load the bases, setting it up for Wallace Clark. Clark hit a sacrifice fly to score one, and Avery Owusu-Asiedu hit an RBI single to extend the lead to 2-0. José Mejía hit a solo homer in the third to put the Hops up 3-0.
The Canadians scored their first two runs of the game, coming from their first hit of the game in the fourth. Three walks loaded the bases, and Mathieu Vallee singled to bring in both runs.
Counsell reached in the fourth on a dropped third strike, and an error on a pickoff attempt sent him to second. Clark singled, putting runners on second, and a sacrifice fly from Owusu-Asiedo sent Counsell home to make it 4-2.
Virahonda walked to reach in the bottom of the fifth. Cunningham then singled to put runners on first and third, and a wild pitch sent Virahonda home, putting the Hops up 5-2 over the Canadians. Caldwell then doubled in the seventh, and Mejía hit an RBI single to send him home and tack on a run, Hops up 6-2.
Two singles and a fielder’s choice off of Hops pitcher Luke Craig loaded the bases for the Candians, with no outs. Manuel Beltre hit an RBI single, and a fielder’s choice scored two to make it 6-4. For Hillsboro, Sawyer Hawks gave up an inside-the-park home run to the first batter he faced in the ninth. He then allowed a two-out single, after which the batter stole second. Hawks issued a walk, and on a full count gave up a single, scoring one run to tie the game 6-6. Back-to-back singles gave Vancouver an 8-6 lead, which would be enough to earn the win.
Hillsboro starter Caden Grice pitched four innings, striking out five batters. Rocco Reid threw two innings of relief, recording two strikeouts and just one hit. Craig allowed three hits and one run over two innings. Hawks entered the game in the ninth, giving up four earned runs on five hits.
Game three of the series starts at 6:35 PM on Thursday, with the pregame show beginning at 6:20 PM on 620 AM RipCity Radio.