As the New Hampshire Fisher Cats begin their final two series of June, let’s look back. It’s June 23, 2017, here’s the state of things on the path 400 miles to Toronto and beyond.
Quick Recap
It looked like the Fisher Cats might be perfect on their southern swing, taking the first game in their series against Bowie, but they’d return to New Hampshire dropping their next two against the Baysox.
A return to Manchester didn’t help change the script all that much, as the Fisher Cats also lost two of three against the Harrisburg Senators following their series lost against the Baysox.
In those two series, the Fisher Cats were outscored 25-40, allowing 10 runs on Thursday against the Senators and a year-to-date worst 13 runs allowed in the final Bowie game.
Harrisburg leaves Manchester as the third-worst team in the Eastern League, they’re now a game above New Hampshire in the standings, with the Richmond Flying Squirrels half a game above the cellar-dwelling Fisher Cats.
Who’s Hot
Batting: Gunnar Heidt had an amazing performance in the first game of the Bowie series, going 3-for-4 with three runs. Harold Ramirez had a pair of hits in that game and a pair of hits in the Harrisburg opener. However, when it comes to consistency, the award this week goes to Andrew Guillotte.
To be fair, Jonathan Davis went 4-for-5 in the final game of the Bowie series and then reached base safely over the next two games, including a homer in the Harrisburg opener, but he couldn’t collect a hit in the final game against Harrisburg or the first two games against Bowie.
Guillotte didn’t play in the second game against Bowie, but played in the other two contests of that series as well as all three games against Harrisburg.
He collected a hit in all of five of those games, including multiple hits in three of the five.
His hitting streak now has grown to seven games, with hits in nine games out of his last ten.
Pitching: Any week a pitching staff gives up 40 runs is not a good one. However, Andrew Case continues to cement his role as a go-to reliever in the Fisher Cats bullpen.
Case pitched four innings of scoreless relief against Bowie and Harrisburg in two appearances, scattering four hits and a walk while striking out four.
He’s only given up one earned run in nine appearances this month, back on June 11 against Akron.
Who’s Here and Who’s Left
The only Fisher Cat starting pitcher with a shot at an Eastern League All-Star appearance is no longer playing in the Eastern League.
Chris Rowley went up to Triple-A Buffalo on June 19 after 17 appearances for New Hampshire this year.
During his time for the Fisher Cats, Rowley went 3-2 with a 1.73 ERA, holding the Eastern League ERA lead for several days.
The U.S. Military Academy graduate ended his stay in Double-A with five starts and a quasi-start in Richmond coming in for a recovering Francisco Rios. For most of his time this year though, he came out of the bullpen, earning a save against Reading on May 1 and blowing a save against Hartford on April 21.
Overall, he allowed 33 hits and 10 runs in 52 innings of work, striking out 49 and walking nine Eastern League batters.
Daniel Young replaces Rowley on the roster, called up from Advanced-A Dunedin on Thursday morning. He allowed a run in one inning of work in the final game against Harrisburg. During his time in Dunedin this year, he was 2-0 in 26 appearances, striking out 27 batters in 30 1/3 innings of work, giving up seven runs off 22 hits and walking nine opponents.
What’s Next
The Fisher Cats now face the Binghamton Rumble Ponies for a weekend set before they head to Hadlock Field, meeting the Portland Sea Dogs. After that, they’ll return to Manchester for series against the Trenton Thunder.
New Hampshire’s been struggling against the division leading Thunder this year, with a 1-9 record against them so far in 2017.
All three series are four games, this year the Fisher Cats have only taken one four-game series to date, a late-May trip to Reading.
