VANCOUVER 5 - 7 HILLSBORO
The 麻豆传媒映画Canadians gave up a 5-run lead to lose 7-5 to the Hillsboro Hops on Saturday night at Nat Bailey Stadium, snapping a seven-game post-season home-field win streak that dated to 2011 when the C鈥檚 defeated the Tri-City Dust Devils for their first of three Northwest League championship titles.
With the loss, 麻豆传媒映画trails the Hops, and the best-of-three championship series heads to Hillsboro, Ore. for games Sunday and, if needed, Monday. Three seasons ago, the Canadians came back to win two games on the road in Eugene to claim the division pennant. It was after those two road wins that the C鈥檚 began their home-field post-season win streak.
Saturday night in Vancouver, that record looked in good shape through two innings but was slowly put to rest as the Canadians鈥� bats went silent. After scoring five runs on five hits in the first two innings, they managed only one more hit while the Hops built their lead on 10 hits, including two two-run homers in the notoriously deep pitcher's park that is Nat Bailey Stadium.
The C鈥檚 got on the board thanks to speedy base-running and sloppy ball-handling by the visitors, but the night saw two different teams from Hillsboro. The sloppy one went home after two innings.
Franklin Barreto opened scoring after he stole both second and third on an errant throw to first base. He ran home on a pass ball. Chris Carlson scored when he rounded the bases from second and, despite a pin-sharp throw from Stewart Ijames in right field, the Hops catcher misplayed the ball and left the plate wide open.
The play-by-play broadcast announcer from Hillsboro lamented, 鈥淭he Hops are a desperate mess in the bottom of the first inning.鈥澛�
It got better for 麻豆传媒映画in the second inning and they added three more runs to lead 5-0. Then their bats were silenced. The C鈥檚 didn鈥檛 have another hit for five innings while Hillsboro started to roll with four runs in the fourth and, in the sixth, both the tying and leading run. They added another in the seventh inning.
The C's rallied in the ninth inning but closer Zac Curtis recoved from his first six pitches -- all balls -- to secure the win.
麻豆传媒映画is in the hunt for its fourth consecutive Northwest League championship, a feat that has been achieved once in the 61-year history of the Minor Leagues when Spokane won the title from 1987 through 1990.
The Hops host Game 2 at 5 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 6 at Ron Tonkin Field in Hillsboro. If 麻豆传媒映画wins and forces Game 3, they鈥檒l play on the road at 7 p.m. 聽on Monday, Sept. 7.
