The Vancouver Canadians were swept in a doubleheader by the Hillsboro Hops, losing 5-0 and 2-1 at Ron Tonkin Field Saturday.
The Hops opened the scoring against C’s starter Chad Dallas with a two-out rally in the third inning. With the rain coming down, Dallas hit José Curpa with a pitch and a fielding error by Addison Barger at short allowed Tim Tawa to get on base. A.J. Vukovich then ripped a double down the right field line to score Curpa and Tawa—who tripped over his own shadow between third and home—to give the Hops all the runs they would need.
Another two-out error victimized Dallas in the fourth. Miguel Hiraldo threw one away at second base after ranging to his left but spinning and firing the ball wide of first, allowing Cam Coursey to reach base. Another throwing error by Trevor Schwecke at third—a low throw that Riley Tirotta could not dig out at first—saw Danny Oriente get aboard. An infield single by Roby Enrique that stayed fair past the third base bag loaded the bases before Curpa was hit by a pitch to bring in Coursey with Hillsboro’s third run.
Hillsboro added on in the fifth inning with yet another two-out rally when Axel Andueza singled on a 1-2 pitch from Dallas past a diving Schwecke at third. Garrett Farmer relieved Dallas and walked Caleb Roberts on four pitches before giving up a single to Coursey that just dropped in front of a charging Davis Schneider in left field to score Andueza. Oriente then singled to center to bring in Roberts for the fifth Hillsboro run.
Game 2
The C’s scored their only run of the doubleheader in the first inning. Zach Britton was issued a leadoff walk by Hillsboro starter Kenny Hernandez and Trevor Schwecke hit a ground rule double over the left field fence to put runners at second and third. An Addison Barger sacrifice fly to left allowed Britton to score.
Hillsboro tied it in the top of the second against Vancouver starter Adam Kloffenstein. Danny Oriente was hit in the back by a pitch with one out and he would score with two outs when Riley Tirotta could not make a sliding catch on the right field line on what was ruled a double by José Curpa.
The game would remain tied at 1-1 until the bottom of the eighth. Ramses Malave was the placed runner at second base, Curpa lined a double down the right field line of Thomas Ruwe to score Malave.
C-Notes
Schwecke worked a one-out walk in the first inning and Tirotta singled to right with two outs but Hiraldo struck out swinging on a 3-2 pitch by Hillsboro starter Blake Walston.
Dallas walked Tawa to open the first inning and a hit-and-run on a ground out to third by Vukovich got Tawa to second but Andrés Sosa threw out Tawa trying to steal third after Dallas struck out Del Castillo to end the inning.
Garrett Spain had a one-out single to right in the third inning but was forced out on a Schwecke 5-4 fielder’s choice. Addison Barger then popped up to Walston in foul teritory to end the inning.
Schwecke hit a one-out double to right field in the fifth inning and Barger’s base hit to center put runners on the corners against Hops reliever Bobby Ay. They would be left on base after Tirotta struck out on a 3-2 pitch and Hiraldo flied out to right just shy of the warning track.
Schneider worked a leadoff walk in the seventh and Harry Ray was hit in the back by a pitch from Ay but Mack Mueller rapped into a 5-4-3 double play. Ay would hit Sosa in the left arm on a 0-2 pitch to men at first and third but Spain flied out to center.
Spain, Schwecke, Barger and Tirotta all had hits at the top of the order with Schwecke drawing a walk. Mueller had a free pass while Ray and Sosa both took one for the team. The C’s were 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position, leaving seven men on.
Before the two errors in the fourth, the Canadians cut down Caleb Roberts trying to stretch a single to center into a double but Spain made the throw to Hiraldo to get Roberts on an 8-4 play.
Dallas gave up four runs but only one was earned in 4-1/3 innings of work, scattering four hits, a walk and two hit by pitches while striking out two. Farmer allowed a Dallas runner to score and one of his own on two hits and a walk over 1-1/3 innings.
Game 2 Notes
The C’s could not bring home Schwecke in the first as Tirotta struck out and P.K. Morris grounded out to third.
Garrett Spain singled with one out in the second inning but Harry Ray hit into a room-service 4-3 double play.
Another inning-ending twin-killing happened in the the third when Britton drew a walk but Schwecke hit into a 6-4-3 DP. That same scenario also played out in the sixth inning with the only difference being the Schwecke DP was of the 6-4-3 variety induced by Liu Fuenmayor.
Tirotta fouled a ball off his right foot in the fourth but remained in the game and flied out to center.
Ray had an infield single to third in the fifth inning with two outs but he was thrown out trying to steal second.
Tirotta singled to center off Hops reliever Austin Pope with one out in the seventh. He made it as far as second on a Morris groundout to first but Miguel Hiraldo struck out to end the inning.
Hiraldo began the eighth inning as the placed runner on second base but Spain struck out before Hiraldo gambled and made it to third on a Ray grounder to short. Hugo Cardona would hit a tapper back to Pope to end the inning.
Schwecke, Tirotta, Ray and Spain had the hits for Vancouver.Britton was the on-base leader with three walks. The Canadians came up empty in six tries with runners in scoring position, leaving a trio of runners stranded.
Kloffenstein saw the first two batters he faced reach base when Coursey singled and Kenny Bliss walked. He struck out Roberts swinging but fell behind 3-0 to Spencer Brickhouse with ball three called on a. time-count violation because Kloffenstein took too much time to throw the pitch. However, he would strike out Brickhouse and get Lyle Lin to ground out into a 6-4 fielder’s choice.
In the second inning, Kloffenstein stranded Curpa at third after a wild pitch by retiring Cam Coursey on a tapper back to the mound.
After retiring eight in a. row, Kloffenstein gave up a one-out single to Curpa but he snared a liner from Coursey over his head and was able to run the ball over the first for the unassisted double play.
Jimmy Burnett stranded a leadoff walk and two stolen bases by Ryan Bliss by striking out the side in the sixth before Ruwe struck out the side in a perfect seventh before giving up the game-winning double in the eighth.
Kloffenstein gave up one run on three hits, a walk and a hit by pitch while striking out six over five innings.
Vancouver falls to 9-9 on the season, ending April on a four-game losing streak. They broke out the road greys in the first game before wearing their black uniforms in the second. Hillsboro wore their blue uniforms in the first game before wearing their Fun Cup jerseys, the Soñadores de Hillsboro in game two.
The Canadians and Hops wrap up the series at 1:05 p.m. Sunday afternoon. Trent Palmer gets the ball for Vancouver. The game is on CanadiansBaseball.com and MiLB.TV.
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