MANCHESTER, N.H. – A seven-run third inning made the difference on Tuesday night as the New Hampshire Fisher Cats marked their return home with an 11-5 victory over the Richmond Flying Squirrels.
Just before the third inning onslaught, Richmond held a tenuous 4-3 lead, with New Hampshire knocking on the door thanks to consecutive extra base hits from Eduard Pinto and Santiago Espinal.
The Fisher Cats built on that momentum in the third, with their first five batters of the inning recording hits, beginning a rally that culminated in a Harold Ramirez grand slam.
Another Espinal extra-base hit in the fourth brought Jon Berti around for an insurance run. New Hampshire recorded only two more hits after that point, but it wouldn’t matter as Richmond’s only other alteration to the scoreboard came thanks to a wild pitch in the seventh that allowed Ali Castillo to score.
Every Fisher Cat batter except for Forest Wall had at least one hit, but Pinto and Espinal led the way from the back of the lineup, going 3-for-5 and 3-for-4 respectively, with Espinal bagging three RBI before the end of the contest.
Ramirez, Berti and Max Pentecost also contributed two hits each for New Hampshire.
Jonah Arenado recorded a 4-for-4 night for Richmond, with Luigi Rodriguez also adding two hits for the visitors.
The loss went to Taylor Hill, who left partway through the third inning rally, ending his day with seven runs allowed off nine hits failing to record an out in the third after finishing the first two innings.
Tyler Saucedo was the winner for New Hampshire, overcoming a rough start to scatter eight hits over six innings of work.
With the result, Saucedo climbs to 3-1 while Hill falls to 0-6 in Eastern League play this season.
Jon Harris (8-4, 4.80 ERA) takes the mound for New Hampshire in Game 2 of the series, beginning at 12:05 p.m. on Wednesday. Richmond will send out Mike Connolly (3-2, 4.11 ERA).