Even the worst baseball teams win around a third of the time, so it makes sense that the New Hampshire Fisher Cats were statistically due for a win eventually. They got that win on Saturday night, defeating Reading 9-1 to halt a five-game losing streak.
New Hampshire’s nine runs went unanswered until the Fightin’ Phils had only one out left, with Malquin Canelo singling home Chace Numata to negate the shutout.
The Fisher Cats’ runs came in bunches, with five over the first two innings and four over the last two.
Ryan McBroom, Emilio Guerrero and Gunnar Heidt each hit home runs while New Hampshire also received RBIs from Richard Urena, Jonathan Davis, Danny Jansen and Harold Ramirez.
Newcomer Derrick Lovless joined Davis, Jansen, Urena and Guerrero in the multi-hit club for New Hampshire. Canelo was the only Phil with more than one hit, the entire team combined for just six hits in total.
Chris Rowley (1-1) got the win for New Hampshire, giving up three of those six hits, walking one and striking out one in 5 1/3 innings of work. He would ultimately leave after 66 pitches. That was14 more pitches than he threw during his three-inning performance on May 10 against Hartford, the second most pitches he’s thrown during an appearance so far this year.
Drew Anderson (3-1) left after three innings, giving up nine hits and grabbing two strikeouts while earning the loss.
With the win, New Hampshire no longer solely possesses the title of worst Minor League Baseball team in America. At 13-28, they’re now tied with Cincinnati’s Triple-A affiliate, the Louisville Bats. Louisville’s Saturday contest against the Columbus Clippers was postponed.
New Hampshire will seek to get rid of that distinction on Sunday with a 2:05 p.m. matinee against Reading. Sean Reid-Foley (2-3, 5.76 ERA) will take the mound for the Fisher Cats, with Reading putting up Tyler Viza (2-3, 6.75 ERA).
