MANCHESTER, NH – The New Hampshire Fisher Cats earned their first walk-off win of the 2018 campaign on Tuesday night, with a wild pitch in the bottom of the ninth giving them a 5-4 win over the Reading Fightin’ Phils a week after giving up a walk-off victory on the road to Reading.
Reading struck early with a Kyle Martin solo homer in the second, followed by three straight hits in the third that added another pair of runs.
If there’s been one theme to this year’s Fisher Cats though, it’s the sheer inevitability that they will provide runs.
New Hampshire kept to that theme in the fourth, with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. coming across the plate, but that wouldn’t be all.
Bo Bichette was the catalyst for New Hampshire’s second run in the sixth, as his fourth triple put him in position for a sacrifice fly RBI from Guerrero and put in him sole possession of the league lead in that category.
For some context, Bichette now has as many triples as the entire Reading roster combined.
The Fightins’ would add another run in the eighth, but a two-run lead against such a dynamic offense did not prove to be much of an obstacle.
Guerrero would lead off the ninth with a first pitch double off new pitcher Luke Leftwich, immediately followed by Cavan Biggio’s fifth home run of the year to tie up the contest.
Leftwich would then hit Connor Panas and Patrick Cantwell before leaving the game in place of Reading righthander Seth McGarry.
McGarry would load the bases, surrendering a walk to Andrew Guillotte following a wild pitch that allowed the earlier runners to advance, then allowing one last wild pitch during the next at-bat to Jonathan Davis that allowed Panas to seal the victory.
Jose Fernandez was the winning pitcher for New Hampshire thanks to his quick top of the ninth, but credit also is owed to New Hampshire starting pitcher Nick Tepesch, who left after six innings with a cut finger.
Fisher Cats manager John Schneider was thrilled with the result, not just because of the win but because of the added confidence he believes it will instill in a squad that seems to be adding more confidence by the day.
“A little unconventional, but we’ll take it,” said Schneider “When you kind of rewind to the top of the ninth and look at the job Fernandez did despite starting slow, giving us a chance with that part of the lineup coming up. We’re never really out of it. Vlady hits a double, Bige hits a homer and Panas had a great at-bat in a pinch-hit role.”
Tepesch has been inconsistent so far this year and the fact that he allowed 10 hits to Reading batters was not ideal, but he was able to scatter those hits with the exception of the third run rally and Martin’s blast.
Reading starter Ranger Suarez had a much stronger start though, allowing two runs off five hits and three walks, striking out five Fisher Cats in six innings of work.
Leftwich (0-3) was on the hook for the loss, seeing his ERA jump from 1.08 to 4.32 thanks to the catastrophic blown save.
Sean Reid-Foley (4-0, 1.16 ERA) takes the mound for New Hampshire in the series finale on Wednesday, a 10:35 a.m. matinee. The Fightins’ send Harold Arauz (2-0, 3.86 ERA) up against Reid-Foley.
