A night after the Hillsboro Hops pitchers combined on a no-hitter through nine innings, the pitching was bound to be less stellar. Unfortunately, it was a great deal less stellar.
The visiting Boise Hawks got to Hillsboro starting pitcher Scott Schultz early on, and silenced the Hops’ bats in a 7-2 win at Ron Tonkin Field in front of 3,653 fans.
Boise (32-27) struck for five runs in the second inning, punctuated by a three-run home run by Rashad Crawford, his first of the season. After Danny Canela walked to lead off the inning, David Bote spiked a double off the blue center field wall to score Canela. A single by Jesse Hodges plated Bote, and Hodges and Bryant Flete would score on the Crawford home run, a line drive over the right field wall. Hodges would finish the night 4-4 with four singles.
Schultz (3-5) has had strangely bad luck versus Boise this season. With this loss, he is now 0-4 versus the Hawks, with an ERA over nine, while he is 3-1 with a 3.38 ERA against everyone else. He finished with seven earned runs given up on eight hits over five and two-thirds innings, striking out four.
The Hops (34-25) tried to rally in the third inning, down 6-0, with back-to-back singles by Trevor Ratliff and Nate Robertson. A line shot into the gap by Pedro Ruiz plated Ratliff, but Ruiz was thrown out trying to advance into second. Kevin Cron would double and score the following inning on a fielder’s choice groundout by Stryker Trahan, but the Hops would be held to just one hit over the final five innings.
Trey Lang (2-0) got the win with four strong innings of relief in support of spot-starter Jeremy Null. Lang gave up just one hit, and Daniel Lewis pitched one-hit ball over the final two innings to secure the victory.
The Hops bullpen was equally strong, with Kyle Anderson and Rob Wort combining for three and a-third innings, giving up only one hit. Wort in particular threw a dazzling ninth inning. After hitting the first batter he faced and walking the second, Wort struck out the next three batters, the 2-3-4 hitters, in succession with 93 MPH fastballs.
The Hillsboro hitters were held in check, however, with All-Star outfielder Jordan Parr, designated hitter Jake Mayers and hot-hitting catcher Trahan combining to go 0-for-10 with a walk and an RBI. With two on and one out in the ninth, Mayers grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to end the game.
The Hops have already sealed their berth into the playoffs as the first-half winners, but they will try and hold off Boise to keep them from the postseason, who find themselves five games out with 17 games to play. The Friday matchup will be Markus Solbach making his Hops debut versus top prospect Dillon Maples (0-1) of the Hawks.
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