The New Hampshire Fisher Cats avoided a four-game sweep at the hands of Portland, beating the Sea Dogs on Thursday night at Hadlock Field, 9-5.
New Hampshire scored six runs in the first two innings, with three RBIs coming off a pair of hits from Tim Lopes.
Lopes added another RBI in the fourth.
The Fisher Cats also received solo home runs from Ryan McBroom and Jonathan Davis, with Matt Dean, Richard Urena and Andrew Guillotte bringing home the other Fisher Cat runs. Jeremy Barfield added a solo homer of his own for Portland later in the contest.
Wednesday Sea Dogs hero Mike Olt doubled home a run in the bottom of the first and Portland’s MVP of Thursday, Rafael Devers, also doubled home two runs in the ninth, capping a 2-for-4 day.
Along with Devers, Portland received multi-hit days from Jake Romanski (2-for-4) and Danny Mars (3-for-4).
Every Fisher Cat batter had at least one hit, with Lopes, Davis, McBroom and Alex Monsalve grabbing two and Guillotte ending with three.
Most of Portland’s offense came after the departure of New Hampshire starter Jon Harris (3-8) after the end of the seventh, ending a streak of four straight losing decisions.
Harris earned his first win since May 23, also against Portland, allowing one earned run off five hits and a walk.
New Hampshire’s bullpen would allow five more hits over the last two innings, but Andrew Case would earn his third save of the year after recording the game’s final out.
Meanwhile, it was a game to forget for Portland starting pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez (0-1). On the first day of his rehab assignment after a right knee subluxation earlier this month, Rodriguez gave up nine of New Hampshire’s 15 hits in three innings of work.
New Hampshire (32-46) returns to Manchester for a 7:05 start against the Trenton Thunder. The game will pit two Eastern League All-Stars Conner Greene (4-5, 3.75 ERA) taking the mound for New Hampshire against Trenton’s Yefry Ramirez (7-3, 3.48 ERA).
