SOMERSET, N.J. – After rain washed away Tuesday’s contest, the New Hampshire Fisher Cats split a pair of games against the Somerset Patriots on Wednesday.
New Hampshire needed eight pitchers in the first contest, but managed to leave that one with a 10-8 victory.
The large number of pitchers came due to Maximo Castillo’s poor start, facing eight batters in the first before getting the hook. Before exiting the contest, Castillo gave up a two-run homer to Dermis Garcia as well as an RBI triple to Isiah Gilliam and an RBI single to Matt Pita, negating Jordan Groshans’ two-run homer for the Fisher Cats in the top of the first.
Neither team would score again until L.J. Talley’s double in the seventh evened things up for New Hampshire, and a three-run rally in the ninth looked like it could seal victory for the visitors. However, the Patriots added more home runs from Oswaldo Cabrera and Michael Beltre to even things up at seven runs each, with Garcia evening things up at eight in the bottom of the tenth on a successful double steal.
New Hampshire finally sealed the win with a pair of runs in the 11th, the first coming off Talley’s bases loaded walk, and the second coming off a sacrifice fly by Samad Taylor that brought Otto Lopez home.
Despite the blown save in the tenth, keeping the Fisher Cats without a save so far this year, Jon Harris (1-2) was the winner, recording the final four outs on the New Hampshire side. The eight Fisher Cat pitchers combined to strike out 17 Patriots, with Curtis Taylor striking out five of the nine Somerset batters he faced. The loss went to Jefry Valdez (2-1).
At the plate. Groshans and Lopez each had a pair of hits, with Lopez joining Talley and Demi Orimoloye with doubles in the game. Gabriel Moreno recorded a triple in his 3-for-6 performance.
New Hampshire dropped the second game 2-1 in seven innings, the normal length for a Minor League doubleheader game.
The Fisher Cats were limited to just two hits, but still held a lead after the fourth thanks to Austin Martin’s double and a subsequent wild pitch by Somerset pitcher Luis Gil that allowed a sacrifice fly from Lopez to bring Martin home.
Somerset’s two runs came in the sixth, a pair of RBI singles off reliever Brody Rodning. Now 0-3 on the year, Rodning did not help his cause with three consecutive wild pitches to prolong the rally.
Gil earned the win and Stephen Ridings retired the side in order in the seventh for his first save of the year.
