READING, Penn.— The New Hampshire Fisher Cats, the Double-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays, grabbed the series finale over the Reading Fightin’ Phils on Sunday night by a score of 5-2 at FirstEnergy Stadium.
Will Robertson went 4-for-4 at the plate and was a triple shy of the cycle. The 25-year-old broke the scoreless tie in the fourth with his 15th homer of the season. It’s the third four-hit game in Robertson’s career and his first at Double-A. Robertson is hitting .311 in the second half.
Two batters later, Riley Tirotta smacked an opposite-field two-run homer, his sixth at Double-A, to extend the lead 3-0. Tirotta drove in a game-high three RBI, his second consecutive three-RBI game.
With a 3-1 lead in the sixth, Jeffrey Wehler grounded a ball underneath Reading third baseman Madison Stokes’ glove on a fielder’s choice fielding error, bringing home Robertson. Tirotta scored Wehler with a sacrifice fly to right to give New Hampshire its largest lead 5-1.
Starting left-hander Ricky Tiedemann made his ninth start of the year for New Hampshire. The Blue Jays No. 1 prospect threw three scoreless innings, allowing only one hit and two walks with five strikeouts on 46 pitches. It’s the southpaw’s first scoreless outing since his very first start of the year on April 13 vs Portland when he went three scoreless innings with nine strikeouts.
Out of the bullpen, Fitz Stadler threw two innings and Joe Jones stranded the bases loaded in the sixth. Trevor Clifton (1-1) picked up his first win since July 21, 2019 while with Triple-A Iowa with two perfect innings in the seventh and eighth and two strikeouts. T.J. Brock collected his eighth save at Double-A with two strikeouts in the ninth.
With the win, New Hampshire (24-30, 59-63) ends the season series with 17 wins in 24 total meetings against Reading (26-31, 54-71), matching the most wins the Fisher Cats have ever had against one team in a season. It’s the first time New Hampshire has won five games in a series on the road since the new schedule format was introduced in 2021.
The Fisher Cats continue their 12-game road trip with a six-game series against the Bowie BaySox beginning Tuesday at 6:35 pm.