MANCHESTER, N.H. – If Thursday was any indication, missing the first hour or two of a Fisher Cats game might not be a big deal.
The Fisher Cats defeated the Hartford Yard Goats on Thursday night, 5-3, thanks to some late heroics at the plate and on the mound.
Although did manage to get another first-inning run thanks to Alberto Mineo’s double, continuing a recent trend of opening-frame runs, neither side managed anything for the next five innings after that moment.
It would take a pair of errors by New Hampshire during Manuel Melendez’ at-bat in the seventh to change the score line, as a fielding error by first baseman Kacy Clemens and a throwing error by Chad Spanberger allowed three Hartford runs to come across the plate.
New Hampshire responded quickly with three runs of their own in the bottom of the inning, with two more RBI from Mineo as well as an RBI double from Vinny Capra that brought Clemens home.
Capra’s grounder to left brought Brandon Grudzielanek around to score in the eighth and Kirby Snead shut the door in the ninth, making him the league’s current save leader with four so far on the year.
The errors squandered a masterful performance from Yennsy Diaz, who left with a no decision after 6 2/3 allowing just four hits. The win instead went to Tyler Saucedo (1-0), who finished off the ninth and retired the side in the eighth.
Jordan Foley (1-2) was the loser for Hartford, spoiling what had been a splendid pair of outings to that point from Rico Garcia and Scott Griggs.
Foley recorded just one out among the seven batters he faced in the seventh, giving up four hits and walking two before leaving the contest.
At the plate, Grudzielanek, Mineo and Capra each had two hits, Capra has now obtained multiple hits in seven of his last ten games and has the league’s sixth best batting average at .370.
Both teams return to Northeast Delta Dental Stadium for a 6:35 p.m. start on Friday night, with Andrew Sopko (0-2, 3.60 ERA) taking the mound for New Hampshire against Ashton Goudeau (1-1, 4.66 ERA).