Diamondbacks Minor Leaguer Hurls 7 No-hit Innings for Hillsboro Hops

The Arizona Diamondbacks affiliates split their four games on Saturday, but one performance truly stood out among the rest.

John West throws seven no-hit innings in Hillsboro 3-0 win over Eugene

It didn't look like High-A Hillsboro Hops right-hander John West was going to have the type of game he wound up having right out of the gate. He hit the first batter faced on his third pitch. One flyout later, he hit another batter. But that runner was erased by a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning.

West went on cruise control from there. He didn't allow another base runner until issuing a two-out walk in fifth inning. He started to rack up the ground ball outs, inducing seven of them. He struck out six batters and allowed only a few hard hit balls, including a couple of line drives that found gloves.

West only threw 78 pitches, 51 for strikes. Curiously, he was not allowed to go any further than seven innings. He hadn't pitched in eight days due to the All-Star break, so was plenty rested. He'd had outings of 97 and 92 pitches back in May. In fact this was the fifth lowest pitch count total of his season.

Dawson Brown and Sam Knowlton finished off the game, preserving the shutout. But Knowlton allowed a single in the bottom of the ninth, ending the combined no-hit bid for the Hops.

West was a twelfth round draft pick out of Boston College in 2023. Standing at 6'8" tall, he didn't have spectacular numbers in college, but the D-backs saw raw talent. During spring training Director of Player Development Chris Slivka said West was a guy to watch.

He's had an up and down season for Hillsboro to be sure. Saturday's effort reduced his ERA to 5.18 and he has a 4.58 FIP. (Fielding Independent Pitching). In 81.1 innings he's struck out 83 and walked 33, while giving up 10 homers.

While there is plenty of work to do for the 23-year old, this outing was a glimpse of how dominant he can be when his mechanics are in line and he executes his pitches.

Triple-A Reno Aces 2, Albuquerque Isotopes 4

Dylan Ray got the start and went six innings, allowing four runs on nine hits. He was bit by a two-run homer in the bottom of the fourth on a hanging curveball. He allowed a solo homer in the bottom of the sixth on an 88 MPH sinker in the middle of the zone.

Ray struck out four batters, but only induced six whiffs on 41 swings. His four-seamer topped out at 96 and averaged 94. There was a lot of hard contact overall, with 10 of the 22 balls considered "hard hit" over 95 MPH.

While not his best effort, this is actually more than an acceptable pitching line in the hitter friendly Pacific Coast League, especially at 5,300 feet of elevation in Albuquerque.

That said, the offense was stymied in this game by a group of relievers. Isotopes starter Mason Albright was hit by a throw from his catcher on a stolen base attempt by Jorge Barrosa and had to leave the game.

Four Isotopes relievers threw 8.2 innings, allowing just two runs. Reno had just four hits, including a double from Tristin English.

Double-A Amarillo Sod Poodles 5, San Antonio Missions 0

Roman Angelo tossed six shutout innings, allowing just two hits, walking two and striking out six. Eli Saul and Zan Russell completed the shutout, throwing two and one perfect innings respectively.

Tommy Troy hit a two-run double in the top of the third. Amarillo capitalized on two errors in the fifth to score two more. LuJames Groover had a sacrifice fly RBI in the seventh to close out the scoring.

Class-A Visalia Rawhide 6, Inland Empire 66'ers 9

It's not often you can say that it was a game you should have won when your pitching staff allows nine runs, but this was just such a game.

Visalia banged out 13 hits, and drew 10 walks. Every hitter in the lineup had at least one hit. But the Rawhide were just 5-for-18 with runners in scoring position and left a whopping 15 men on bases.

Finding themselves in a 6-6 tie heading to the bottom of the eighth, the Rawhide suffered a meltdown. Reliever Alexis Liebano walked a batter, uncorked a wild pitch, gave up an RBI single, and then a two-run homer. JD Dix also made a throwing error in the inning.

Dix broke out of a slump at the plate however, collecting two hits, three walks, and driving in two runs. Despite being on base five times, he did not score once. Trent Youngblood hit a solo homer, his third of the year.