June 10 (Hillsboro, OR)- Up one game to none in the series, game two between the Hillsboro Hops and the Tri-City Dust Devils went to the Hops in dramatic fashion. The game stayed tied at 0-0 until the bottom of the sixth when the Hops got on the board first, followed very quickly by the Dust Devils, who tied it at 1-1 in the top of the seventh. That set things up for Kayson Cunningham to record his first hit for the Hops, a walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth to take the 2-1 win.
Patrick Forbes made his second start of the season for the Hops, throwing three clean innings, punching out six batters. Kyle Ayers took over in the fourth. For Tri-Cities, Lucas Knowles started on the bump. He struck out five in six innings, having a scoreless outing until the bottom of the sixth. Yerald Nin doubled, and a sacrifice bunt from Avery Owusu-Asiedu put Nin on third. Wallace Clark hit an RBI single to put the Hops up 1-0.
The Dust Devils responded quickly, with Juan Flores hitting a solo homer in the top of the seventh off of Ayers to tie it 1-1. Ayers threw five innings of relief, striking out three and allowing one run on four hits. Nate Savino took over the tied game in the top of the ninth. He recorded a pop-up to start the inning, but followed up with a walk. A single put runners on first and second, and a fly out advanced the runner to third with two outs. A comebacker to Savino ended the inning and the Dust Devil’s threat.
Knowles went seven innings, recording six strikeouts and one earned run on four hits. Luke Schafer pitched one scoreless inning of relief with two strikeouts, and Sam Tookoian threw the ninth. Clark started the ninth off with a single to left field, followed by Slade Caldwell, who hit it just behind the third baseman. José Mejía reached on a fielder’s choice, loading the bases up for Cunningham, who played his first High-A game yesterday. Cunningham made contact and recorded his first hit for the Hops, which just so happened to be a walk-off single to take the 2-1 win over the Dust Devils.
Game three begins at 6:35 PM on Saturday, June 11. The pregame show will begin at 6:20 PM on 620 AM RipCity Radio and BallyLive.