EVERETT, Wash. -- Just a little over a month ago, the Hillsboro Hops came up to Everett and got roughed up, dropping five out of six. The return trip was a lot sweeter.
Hillsboro (34-35) got home runs from catchers Kenny Castillo and Carlos Virahonda, with Virahonda's solo shot off ace Everett reliever Christian Little in the eighth inning providing the difference in a 4-3 win over the AquaSox (1-2 second half, 34-35 overall) Sunday.
Hillsboro won four out of six in a series for the fourth consecutive week, two of those series on the road. The Hops are off to a 2-1 start to the second half of the Northwest League schedule and their record since May 12 is a league-best 21-15.
Sandro Santana (3-2) came on in relief of Caden Grice with the Hops leading 2-1 in the fifth. Everett had scored the first run of the game on a Felnin Celesten solo home run to left off Grice to start the fourth. Hillsboro answered with a Castillo homer to left with one out in the fifth. Jakey Josepha tripled with two outs and scored on Modeifi Marte high-chopper infield hit to the left side.
Grice fanned six and walked one over four innings, departing after allowing his third hit, a leadoff single to Anthony Donofrio. Santana struck out the next two batters before Jonny Farmelo singled past second to put runners at the corners. But the hard-throwing, 150 pound southpaw punched out Luke Stevenson to strike out side, before giving way to John West the rest of the way.
Santana extended his consecutive scoreless outings streak to eight games. Over that span he has allowed five hits and just one walk with 17 strikeouts over 9 1/3 innings pitched.
The Hops extended their lead to 3-1 in the seventh inning, parlaying three singles off lefty Reid Easterly into a run, with Marte again delivering the goods with a hit-and-run single through the right side to plate Castillo.
Everett capitalized on just the third error of the season by the Hops to plate an unearned run in the seventh, but a double play minimized the damage.
The Hops would get that run right back when Virahonda sent a 3-2 Little pitch into the netting in left field for his 11th home run of the season and first with the Hops.
West pitched a 1-2-3 eighth, but surrendered a one-out home run to center by Donofrio in the ninth, his second in as many games and third against the Hops this season. Curtis Washington, Jr. followed and was hit by an 0-2 pitch, putting the tying run on base with one out.
Number nine hitter Carter Dorighi came up next and for a couple seconds, it looked like a rerun of last night's ninth inning with a light hitter ending the game with a home run. But Dorighi's deep shot to left was just that, settling into Avery Owusu-Asiedu's glove at the wall.
Top ten Mariners prospect Farmelo came up and worked the count full before grounding out to Marte at first to end the game.
Marte finished with his second three-hit game of the series, driving in two. Castillo went 2-for-4 with his second home run in as many nights, scoring twice. Marte and Castillo combined for 21 hits in the series with Castillo raising his team-leading batting average to .301 with an 11-for-27 performance, including five extra base hits, seven runs and ten runs batted in.
West was credited with his first pro save after pitching four innings, allowing two runs, one earned, on three hits with two strikeouts, no walks and two hit batters. West had walked a total of 16 batters in his last three outings combined, a total of 12 2/3 innings.
Donofrio closed out the series with four hits in his final five at bats, including two home runs and a double to finish the series 8-for-18 at the plate for the Aquasox.
The Hops return to Hillsboro with a very optimistic outlook for the summer, featuring a lineup packed with young Diamondbacks stars in the making and a deep well of talented starting pitchers. The Hops welcome the Vancouver Canadians for the first time this season, starting Tuesday night at 6:35 p.m. All Hops baseball airs live on Rip City Radio 620 and the Bally Sports Live app. Wednesday's game will also be telecast on KUNP, Rip City TV.