The Vancouver Canadians will need to win two on the road if they hope to win their fourth straight Northwest League championship after dropping Game 1 at Nat Bailey Stadium Saturday night.
Hillsboro 7 Vancouver 5 (Game 1)
Vancouver, BC - The C's built a 5-0 lead after two innings against the Diamondbacks affiliate but it wasn't enough. Chase Mallard set down the first seven hitters in a row but a single and a triple in the third put Hillsboro on the board. Left fielder Jonathan Davis - the defacto MVP of the North Division final against Spokane - nearly made a spectacular diving grab on the triple down the left field line but the ball eluded him. Hillsboro added an RBI single and a two-run homer to cut the deficit to one. Mallard made it through five innings and pitched a six-hitter with three K's and zero walks. Alberto Tirado (0-1) gave up the lead in the sixth on a two-run homer by Stryker Trahan after issuing one of his two walks in the inning. He struck out two and reached 94-96 MPH on the radar gun. Jose Fernandez was victimized by an unearned run in the seventh after a wild pitch and a throwing error by catcher Mike Reeves trying to nail a runner stealing third. Before that happened, Reeves did manage to nab a runner at third earlier in the inning. Yeyfry Del Rosario struck out the side in a perfect eighth and Justin Shafer allowed just one hit and struck out two in the ninth.
Roemon Fields led off the game with a double and scored on a Franklin Barreto single. Barreto went to third after an errant pickoff throw by Hillsboro starter Ben Eckels and would score on a passed ball. Richard Urena brought in a Chris Carlson base hit with an RBI single to cap the three-run rally in the first. Ryan McBroom got a two-out single in the second to score an Alexis Maldonado walk and a Fields hit by pitch. Fields was 1-for-1 with two walks and a hit by pitch but was curiously pinch-hit for by Boomer Collins after a Maldonado leadoff walk in the ninth. Though manager John Schneider got the righty-lefty matchup he wanted against the southpaw, Collins would fly out. Davis had a hit and a walk and Tim Locastro added one to the hit column in the ninth.
Saturday's Linescore
*** 3 Stars!!! ***
3. Yeyfry Del Rosario
2. Ryan McBroom
1. Roemon Fields
Sunday's Game & Probable Starter
Vancouver @ Hillsboro (Game 2), 8:00 pm ET - Matt Smoral (NR).
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