HARTFORD, Conn. – The biggest weakness of the pre-All-Star Break New Hampshire Fisher Cats transformed into a strength in the first game after the break.
New Hampshire put up season highs in home runs and runs on Thursday night, defeating the Hartford Yard Goats, 13-8.
That came in the second, with Vinny Capra adding another homer in the second, followed by Nash Knight’s in the third and Christian Williams’ in the ninth.
Williams also drove in Spanberger on a triple that gave New Hampshire a 10-0 lead at the end of the fifth, the final Fisher Cat run before his later blast.
Kevin Smith also drove in a pair of runs on sacrifice flies in the second and fifth, and came home on Josh Palacios’ single in the fourth.
Hector Perez cruised until four Yard Goat runs pushed him out of the contest in the fifth without recording an out, with William Ouellette coming in to retire the side and earn his first with of the year.
Ty Culbreth lasted only 1 2/3 innings as the pitcher of record for Hartford, falling to 3-8 on the year.
Culbreth gave up only one hit, Lundquist’s home run, but was only charged with one earned run as all the runner brought in by Lundquist’s blast made their way on base thanks to a fielding error by Scott Burcham.
Culbreth has now been the loser in three of Hartford’s five losses against the Fisher Cats this season.
On Friday, Hartford will send another hurler who has traditionally struggled against New Hampshire, lefty Jack Wynkoop (6-9, 3.03 ERA). He’ll face Yennsy Diaz (7-6, 3.59 ERA) In a contest slated to start at 7:05 p.m.