The New Hampshire Fisher Cats are returning to New Hampshire following a frustrating 3-2 matinee defeat to the Reading Fighting Phils at FirstEnergy Stadium on Wednesday.
Reading’s three runs came on one swing of the bat, a 2-2 pitch that first baseman Kyle Martin took over the right field fence.
New Hampshire made it close, with Gunnar Heidt bringing home Raffy Lopez in the second and Anthony Alford bringing Tim Lopes home in the third, but they left men on third base three times on a day where they went 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position.
Ironically, both Heidt and Alford also recorded their fourth errors of the season.
Reading starter Drew Anderson (2-0) escaped two of those jams as well as an inning with two batters hit by pitches in his six-inning performance. In all, he allowed just three hits and three walks while striking out four and retired the final seven batters he faced.
Yacksel Rios got his third hold of the year after reliving Anderson in the seventh and Jasen Therrien got his fourth save of the year after recording two hitless innings to close out the victory for Reading.
Hard luck loser Shane Dawson (1-3) also pitched six innings, allowing just four hits, only one of which came after the bottom of the second. After 102 pitches, he got three strikeouts from his 66 strikes, allowing no walks.
Justin Shafer came in to pitch the final two innings for the Fisher Cats in his fifth appearance since promotion from Dunedin last month.
It was a difficult day at the plate for both teams, with only Reading’s Chris Tocci recording a multi-hit day, going 2-for-4 with a single and a double.
With the loss, the Fisher Cats (9-16) are now 0-8 in games decided by one run.
Next up for the Fisher Cats is the Binghamton Rumble Ponies, who arrive for a 6:05 p.m. showdown on Thursday. Sean Reid-Foley (1-2, 5.65 ERA) will take the mound for New Hampshire while Casey Delgado (0-4, 9.15 ERA) is scheduled for Binghamton.
