The Hillsboro Hops won the opener, then lost five straight to finish 1-5 in their six-game road series at Tri-City, falling to last place in the Northwest League's second-half standings at 7-12.
Hillsboro has now lost 11 of its last 12 games. The skid has erased what was a strong start to the second half — the Hops were 6-3 and atop the NWL standings before being swept by Spokane in the series ending July 6, then buried at Gesa Stadium in Pasco.
The lone bright spot: Tuesday, July 7
Third baseman Yassel Soler launched two home runs — his seventh and eighth of the season — in a 7-3 win that snapped a seven-game losing streak. It was Soler's third career multi-homer game and the 26th time a Hops player has gone deep twice in a single contest, per team records.
JD Dix went 2-for-4 with a double and three RBI. José Mejía finished 3-for-4 with two runs scored and a stolen base. Reliever Rocco Reid entered with the bases loaded in the sixth inning and retired eight consecutive batters, striking out four in 2.2 scoreless innings to earn his first hold.
The game was played in 99-degree heat. It would be the last time the Hops celebrated a win before the All-Star break.
Starting pitching collapses in Games 2 and 3
Brian Curley allowed four first-inning runs Wednesday, July 8, and finished with seven earned runs on 12 hits in an 11-2 loss. Tri-City pounded out 14 hits to end its own 10-game skid.
The next night, Thursday, July 9, John West gave up six earned runs on seven hits in 4.1 innings as the Hops fell 8-4. Combined, Curley and West allowed 13 runs and 19 hits in 9.1 innings across those two starts.
The Hops also couldn't capitalize at the plate in Game 3, stranding 11 runners and going 3-for-14 with runners in scoring position. JD Dix collected three hits, and Brady Counsell drove in two runs, but it wasn't enough.
Grice gem wasted Friday, July 10
Caden Grice turned in the best pitching performance of the series, allowing no earned runs on six hits over six innings. Carlos Virahonda's second-inning homer gave Hillsboro a 1-0 lead, but Tri-City tied it in the third and Harold Coll broke the deadlock with a solo shot in the eighth. Final: 2-1 Dust Devils.
The Hops managed just three hits and left six runners on base.
The final two
Hillsboro dropped Games 5 and 6 on Saturday, July 11, and Sunday, July 12, to complete the 1-5 series. Detailed box scores for those contests were not available at press time.
Where things stand
Hillsboro sits six games behind co-leaders Everett and Spokane in the second-half race. The team entered the Tri-City series as the NWL's weakest-hitting club, batting .240 with just 60 home runs through Monday, July 6, according to league stats.
The bullpen, which blew three late leads during the prior Spokane series, couldn't protect Grice's quality start in Game 4 when reliever Kyle Ayers surrendered Coll's go-ahead homer in the eighth.
What's next
The NWL All-Star break runs Monday, July 13, through Thursday, July 16. After the break, the Hops travel to Eugene for a three-game set with the Emeralds before returning to Hillsboro for a homestand at Hops Ballpark.
