MANCHESTER, N.H. – The New Hampshire Fisher Cats closed out their series against the Hartford Yard Goats with a 10-5 loss on Sunday afternoon.
New Hampshire got off to a hot start with five unanswered runs. Three came in the first, beginning with a Samad Taylor triple that quickly transformed into a run off a Vinny Capra groundout RBI.
The other two first-inning runs for the Fisher Cats came off L.J. Talley’s first-pitch homer, bringing Jordan Groshans across the plate.
Demi Orimoloye would add a solo home run in the second that bounced off the foyer of the Hilton Garden Inn in left center field, followed by an RBI single later in the inning from Capra that brought Taylor across the plate again.
Coco Montes answered for Hartford in the third with a two-run homer, going deep again in the fifth again with another two-run homer, scoring Jameson Hannah both times.
Matt McLaughlin gave Hartford its fifth run in the sixth, crossing the plate on a bases loaded wild pitch from Graham Spraker.
The deadlock was broken in the eighth thanks to a horrendous relief appearance by New Hampshire’s Emerson Jimenez. The Dominican righthander would be unable to retire any of the seven batters he faced, beginning with a Casey Golden double to lead off the inning and a pair of hit batters to end his appearance.
Jimenez dropped to 1-3 on the year while the win went to Nate Griep, his first victory in seven minor league appearances this year.
At the plate, New Hampshire finished with 13 hits, including multi-hit days from Taylor, Talley and Orimoloye.
The Fisher Cats will return to Manchester on Aug. 24 for a series with the Binghamton Rumble Ponies. In the meantime they start a series on Tuesday in Pennsylvania with the Harrisburg Senators followed by a rematch with the Yard Goats in Connecticut starting on Tuesday, Aug. 17.
