Rosario homers again to lead Hit Men

Eddie Rosario homered for the second consecutive game and Matt Davidson drove in 4 runs as 6th-seeded Hillsborough struck back with an 8-3 triumph in Vancouver on Sunday night to even their Best-of-Five series at 1-1.

Rosario gave the Hit Men an early 2-0 lead, following up a Kris Byrant single with a blast to deep right center in the 1st inning.

Rookie Luis Castillo, starting for 3rd-seeded Vancouver, walked just two but Hillsborough took advantage of the free passes. He started the 4th inning by getting leadoff hitter Mookie Betts on a ground out but then walked Austin Barnes and Bryant. Rosario plated the team's 3rd run with a double and Miguel Sano drove in another with a ground out.

Matt Davidson then gave the Hit Men a 6-0 lead, sending a Castillo offering deep to left. Castillo would face one more batter, with Yangervis Solarte singling up the middle before Joe Smith came on to end the inning.

Vancouver got on the board in the 4th inning. Josh Reddick lashed a double down the first base line and took third on an Anthony Rendon single before scoring on Jean Segura's sac fly to center to make it 6-1.

The Hit Men countered with another 2 runs in the 5th. Rosario got things going again, drawing a leadoff walk off Smith. Sano promptly doubled to put two in scoring position for Davidson, who delivered again with a single to drive both home. Solarte then walked, bringing Trevor Rosenthal out of the bullpen for Vancouver. Rosenthal and Drew Pomeranz quieted Hillsborough, allowing just 1 hit over the last 5 innings to keep the Iron Fist in the game.

But Trevor Hildenberger held Vancouver scoreless over the 6th and 7th innings. The Iron First got to Wade Davis in the 8th, first with a solo homer by Matt Kemp to make it 8-2. Jonathan Schoop doubled, took 3rd on a groundout, and scored on a Rendon single to cut the lead to 8-3 before Segura struck out to end the 8th. Vancouver  got another base runner in the 9th after Carlos Santana walked but J.D. Martinez ended the game by grounding into a 4-6-3 double play.

Jose Berrios (1-0) walked 4 and struck out 5 over 5 innings but yielded only 1 run on 4 hits. Of his 95 pitches, 57 went for strikes (.600). Castillo (0-1), a 2018 first-rounder by El Paso who was shipped to Vancouver in June, was tagged for 6 runs on 6 hits in just 2 2/3 innings, with 2 walks and 1strikeout. Just 37 of his 64 pitches (.578) went for strikes.

Rosario had 2 hits, 3 runs and 3 RBI and walked twice out of the cleanup spot. Davidson led Hillsborough with 4 RBI. Solarte collected 3 hits behind them but didn't score or drive in a run.

Hillsborough finished with 8 runs on 9 hits, leaving 8 men on base. Vancouver plated 3 runs on 8 hits and left 9 on base.

The series moves to Hillsborough for Game 3 on Tuesday.