SPOKANE VALLEY, Wash. -- If Hops fans thought the 2026 season opener was a gut punch, then Tuesday's series opener at Spokane was a flying knee in the kisser.
Leading 10-2 after a run in the sixth inning, the Hops (20-29 second half, 52-63 overall) surrendered 10 unanswered runs over the final three frames in an epic bullpen collapse as Spokane (24-24, 53-61) shocked Hillsboro 12-10 in game one of a six-game series at Avista Stadium Tuesday.
Two times this year Hillsboro has collected 15 hits in a game. They are now 0-2 in those games.
Carlos Virahonda was all over the bases yet again for Hillsboro with two hits, two walks, three runs scored and an RBI. But it was two foul balls that sneaked out of the talented 20-year-old catcher's mitt that loomed largest in this loss.
With one-out and struggling Spokane center fielder Robert Calaz at the plate in the sixth inning, Hops pitcher Jake Steinmetz induced a foul pop from the #23 Rockies prospect just up the first base line. Virahonda got in position to catch the ball but it hit high up in the mitt as his footing gave way and slipped out of his grasp as he hit the ground.
Calaz--who has seen his prospect ranking drop precipitously in 2026 after a more than two month batting slump--took advantage of the extra strike by lining a home run over the Coors Light Caboose in right field to make it a 10-3 ballgame.
Steinmentz got Will Bernard to ground out to Virahonda on a tapper in front of the plate for what should have been the third out of the inning. With two down and none on, the next six Indians reached base against Steinmetz, who had not allowed a run in 10 innings with Hillsboro until what turned out to be a five-run onslaught in the sixth that reset the game, bringing Spokane to within 10-7.
Tommy Hopfe ended an 0-for-27 slump of his own with a two-RBI double in the rally. After a walk and an infield hit loaded the bases, Steinmetz departed and lefty Luke Dotson took over on the hill. Cleanup hitter Tanner Thach send his second pitch into left field for a two-RBI single, scoring Hopfe and Roynier Hernandez to get the Tribe within three.
A batter's interference double play kept Spokane off the board in the seventh inning after Calaz led off with a rocket shot base hit up the middle.
Still 10-7 in the eighth inning, lefthander Rocco Reid took over on the hill. One of the Hops' more reliable relievers since returning from Low-A Visalia, Reid was coming off one of his better outings of the year last week against Eugene, when he threw a career-high 2 2/3 scoreless innings in a rare Hops win over the Northwest League leaders, Reid ran into immediate difficulty after walking number nine hitter Clayton Gray to start the frame.
Gray saw 22 pitches on this night in four trips to the plate. He swung the bat twice, fouling off a pair of two-strike pitches in the third inning before drawing the first of four bases on balls. Gray scored along with Juan Castillo on a two-RBI single by Roynier Hernandez off Hops starter Patrick Forbes, who walked three and hit one batter, striking out two over three innings.
After.a Reid wild pitch advanced Gray to second, Hopfe hit a grounder up the middle. Second baseman Jose Mejia's throw to first pulled Kenny Castillo off the bag. With one out, Wilder Dalis walked on four pitches to load the bases.
Thach returned to the plate and fouled a 1-2 pitch back to Virahonda but it didn't stick in the mitt. Thach sent the next pitch up the middle into center field, scoring Gray and Hopfe and putting the tying run Dalis at third base. He wouldn't stay there long as Reid's very next pitch skipped past Virahonda to the backstop and Dalis raced home on the wild pitch to tie the game at 10.
Kelvin Hidalgo fouled off the next pitch, then sent a screamer out toward right field that just cleared the short porch for a home run to put the Tribe up 12-10.
Alexis Liebano came on to relieve Reid after Calaz ripped his fourth hit of the night up the middle. The righty closed the door on the rally after a Calaz steal, retiring the only two batters he faced with one strikeout.
The Hops had gotten runners on base with one out in the seventh and leading off the eighth, but Spokane catcher Juan Castillo cut down both Slade Caldwell (7th) and Kayson Cunningham (8th) trying to steal to help nullify Hillsboro scoring chances. That allowed righty reliever Dylan Crooks (6-1) to card two scoreless frames with two strikeouts, one walk and one hit allowed.
In the ninth, California League saves leader Seth Clausen took over the on the mound. While he excelled at Low-A, the former Minnesota Gopher's introduction to High-A had been rude, to the tune of a 15.19 earned run average over his first five NWL outings.
But Clausen had no trouble in the ninth, fanning Yassel Soler and Jakey Josepha back-to-back before Kenny Castillo grounded out weakly to short to end the game.
The Hops charged to the early lead with two runs in the first and two more in the third inning. J.D. Dix drove in three of those four runs with a two-RBI double over the head of Hopfe in left in the first inning and a chopper to the right side that sailed over Thach's head in the third inning to drive in Mejia.
Yuma Herrera took the brunt of the damage from Hops bats, surrendering 12 hits and nine runs, seven earned over 4 2/3 innings. The Hops plated five runs off Herrera in the fifth, with RBI doubles from Virahonda and Josepha and a deep fly to the track by Caldwell that Calaz misplayed for a three-base error that plated two more runs.
Up 9-2 in the sixth, the Hops added to their lead against lefty reliever Isaiah Coupet when Virahonda drew a one-out walk, advanced to second on Dix's third hit of the night and scored on Josepha's base hit.
The Hops got multi-hit efforts from Cunningham (2-4 with a double and two runs), Josepha (2-5, double, run, 2 RBI), and Castillo (2-5, double, run, RBI) to go with Virahonda's and Dix's contributions. All nine Hops had at least one hit in the game.
With Hillsboro's loss and surging Vancouver's 10-5 victory over Eugene, the Hops have now fallen eight games out of playoff position with 17 left to play.
Game two of the series airs at 6:20 p.m. on Rip City Radio with first pitch scheduled for 6:35.