Hillsboro Hops collect 16 hits in 8-2 win over Spokane Indians

Clay Middleton set himself up behind the plate and gave his sign to Argenis Rodriguez.

The right-hander immediately shook off Middleton, who switched up the pitch location to Rodriguez’s liking.

With the count at 2-2, Rodriguez pulled the ball to his glove and heaved it towards Hillsboro’s Drew Ellis.

Ellis launched it somewhere out in the parking lot behind left field. It was one of 16 hits against the Spokane Indians, who fell to the Hops 8-2 Sunday afternoon.

“That’s baseball,” Middleton said. “There’s times when I thought a better pitch could be called and he shook me off, and he threw what he wanted and struck the guy out.”

Indians manager Matt Hagen talked up the homer as just another learning opportunity for his young pitcher.

“You want the pitchers to throw to their strengths, but you also have got to be mindful of hitters’ weaknesses. Sometimes we make a decision based on one of those two things and it’s like, ‘Oh, well we should have stayed at our strength instead of going at his weakness,’” Hagen said. “That’s part of the learning curve. If they had it all figured it out, then they wouldn’t be in minor league baseball.”

But there were far more issues on Sunday than just the decisions made on the mound. The Indians (9-16) couldn’t match the Hops (14-11) on offense.

Hillsboro starting pitcher Tyler Keele had a perfect game for more than four innings before the righty tagged two consecutive batters in the side in the fifth.

“We were sitting there going, ‘Somebody’s got to get a hit sooner or later,’” Hagen said. “We’ve got to get just one, or this kid is going to go nine innings against us.”

Keele ran the no-hitter into the sixth inning before Spokane’s Chad Smith barely beat out a throw to first by second baseman Camden Duzenack. It was the first of only four hits for the Indians on Sunday.

“He (Keele) just mixed it up good, he was hitting his spots,” Middleton said. “It’s not like we were doing anything wrong. We were taking good swings. It just happens. Days like these happen.”

The Hops held the Indians to no runs for the majority of the game as they extended their lead to 7-0 in the seventh inning, which started with Ellis’ homer to left.

Rodriguez walked the next batter and gave up an RBI single to Duzenack. The Hops added another single to left field and Yan Sanchez sent home two more runs for Hillsboro on a double down the third-base line.

The Indians finally got on the board in the bottom of the frame when Andretty Cordero hit his club-leading fifth homer this season.

The Indians had an opportunity to add a few more runs in the eighth when Hops right-hander Pierce Romero hit Jonah McReynolds to load the bases with no outs.

Smith struck out but Tyler Ratliff got the fans on their feet with a bloop single to right field that scored Austin O’Banion.

With the bases still loaded, Cordero grounded into a double play to end the inning.

Duzenack led the Hops at the plate, going 4 for 5, including a double and a home run, while driving in three runs. Eudy Ramos had four hits in six at-bats, including a double.