Manchester, New Hampshire – The New Hampshire Fisher Cats (5-2) won both games of their Friday doubleheader over the Hartford Yard Goats (3-4), 5-2 and 8-0. The Fisher Cats hit six home runs across the pair of 7-inning games, and both starting pitchers earned wins.
Game One
Tanner Morris started off the first inning with a bang, blasting a solo shot to straightaway center. The homer was Morris’ second of the season, and both have come on the first pitch of the at bats. Just two batters later, Orelvis Martinez hit his third home run of the year and made the score, 2-0, New Hampshire.
Ryan Gold smacked a 2-run double in the second to double the Fisher Cats lead.
Leading, 4-1, in the fifth, New Hampshire added another run thanks to a solo homer to right field from Zac Cook—his first Double-A hit.
New Hampshire starter Joey Murray (W, 1-0), No. 24 prospect in the Toronto Blue Jays system, pitched five innings and allowed two runs on two hits. He tallied six strikeouts and walked just one Hartford batter. Murray is up to 13 strikeouts on the season.
Catcher Ryan Gold also helped Murray out when he threw Hartford’s Michael Toglia out at second base to end the third inning.
Following a Hartford home run in the fifth, relievers Marcus Reyes and Hagen Danner finished out the game on the mound for New Hampshire and allowed just one base runner. Danner’s fastball hit 99 mph on the radar gun. The Fisher Cats took game one, 5-2.
Game Two
New Hampshire bats stayed hot in game two. Orelvis Martinez launched another first-inning home run that scored two runs. The ball landed on the roof of the Sam Adams Brewhouse in left field.
In the bottom of the third inning, Sebastian Espino cranked a 3-run homer to left field. Like Martinez’s shot, Espino’s also landed on the roof of the Sam Adams Brewhouse and moved New Hampshire ahead, 5-0.
Starting pitcher Nick Fraze (W, 1-0) motored through the Hartford order, retiring every batter he faced in the first three innings. Fraze did not allow a hit until the top of the fourth, and he finished allowing no runs and three hits across five innings of work. He struck out four batters and issued no walks.
Fraze’s only trouble came in the fourth inning. With runners on second and third with two outs, Hartford infielder Coco Montes hit a ball deep to right field. Will Robertson hustled back and made the catch against the wall to end the inning and preserve the shutout for New Hampshire.
Zac Cook hit his second homer of the day in the fourth. The ball traveled an estimated 386 feet.
Steward Berroa added an RBI triple in the sixth, and Tanner Morris scored a run on a single in the next at bat. New Hampshire led, 8-0.
Reliever Hayden Juenger pitched a perfect two innings to close out the win. He did not allow a baserunner and struck out four Yard Goats. Juenger has 11 strikeouts in just five innings of work so far this season.
The Fisher Cats will take on the Yard Goats again on Saturday, April 16 at 6:35 p.m.
