Jose Fernandez' two homers lead Hops to second straight win over Spokane

The pitching wasn’t at its best, but the bats were as the Hops defeated the Spokane Indians 13-9 on Thursday night, Aug. 1, at Avista Stadium in Spokane.

Hillsboro scored in six of the game’s nine innings, tallied 13 hits, and had all nine offensive starters reach base in what amounted to a comeback win.

The Hops scored three runs in the game’s opening inning and managed five more over the next five stanzas, but fell behind 9-8 after six innings before rallying for five runs over the next two en route to their second straight win over the first place Indians.

Hillsboro starting pitcher Avery Short had a rough outing, allowing five earned runs over 3.1 innings.

Jose Fernandez hit his third and fourth home runs of the season while tallying four RBI, contributing to five Hop homers that included round-trippers from Tommy Troy, Jack Hurley and Junior Franco.

Hillsboro reliever Philip Abner earned the win, while Listher Sosa notched the save. The two combined to allow just two hits while striking out six over the game’s final 3.1 innings.

EJ Andrews, Juan Guerrero and Jose Cordova combined to go 7-for-13 with a home run and four RBI for Spokane.

The two teams will face off again at 6:35 p.m. tonight, at Avista Stadium.