MANCHESTER, N.H. – The New Hampshire Fisher Cats struggled against the Portland Sea Dogs two weeks ago in Maine and on Tuesday their struggles continued in the Granite State.
Portland took a 12-6 win in the first game of the series, scoring runs in each of the final six frames of the contest.
That late explosion eliminated a 2-0 Fisher Cat lead after the first, which saw the first four New Hampshire batters reach safely. The Fisher Cats would claw back four runs in the seventh, with three of those runs coming off Gabriel Moreno’s second homer of the season.
Lopez went 3-for-5 on the day, with every starting Fisher Cat batter except for Kevin Vicuña grabbing at least one hit before all was said and done.
Still, as the score line would suggest, Portland’s batting was better. The Sea Dogs received multi-hit performances from Jeisson Rosario, Pedro Castellanos and Joey Meneses. Portland also received home runs from Ryan Fitzgerald and Johan Mieses, an echo of the four home runs Mieses hit against New Hampshire two weeks ago.
New Hampshire starting pitcher Elvis Luciano was two outs short of eligibility for the win if it had been a better night, but he was on the hook for Portland’s first two runs and the bullpen was unable to stop the trend.
Sam Ryan (0-1) gave up five runs in the eighth for New Hampshire, putting him in line for the loss. The win went to 2018 MLB Draft Third Round Pick Durbin Feltman for his four outs in the seventh and eighth, also earning a blown save for the Fisher Cats’ four run rally.
The two teams meet again on Wednesday at 6:35. Kyle Johnston (0-0, 3.38 ERA) takes the mound for New Hampshire against Enmanuel de Jesus (1-0, 5.40 ERA).
