Manchester, New Hampshire – Toronto Blue Jays top pitching prospect Ricky Tiedemann made a stellar Double-A debut, and the Fisher Cats hit multiple home runs for the 10th time in their last 12 games on Friday night at Delta Dental Stadium. New Hampshire (15-16, 46-54) won, 6-1, over the Richmond Flying Squirrels (San Francisco Giants, 10-20, 51-48) to tie up the series at two games apiece.
The 19-year-old left-hander joined New Hampshire in style, striking out the first batter he faced on three pitches. Two of his innings were perfect, and he allowed just one hit with one walk. He finished with 3.0 innings of work, striking out five.
MLB.com ranks Tiedemann the No. 3 prospect in the Toronto Blue Jays system and No. 61 prospect in all of baseball. He is the youngest player in the Eastern League and second-youngest in all of Double-A.
Richmond started their ace Kyle Harrison, who is ranked the No. 2 prospect for the Giants and No. 23 prospect in baseball.
Sebastian Espino wasn’t intimidated, though. He took the first pitch of his first at bat over the right field wall to put New Hampshire in front, 1-0. Espino finished 2-for-3 with two extra-base hits, and he reached base four times.
In the fifth, the Fisher Cats tagged Richmond’s first reliever with four earned runs, all of which came with two outs. Cam Eden blasted a three-run homer over the wall in left-center, and Ryan Gold homered in the next at bat. Eden finished 2-for-4 with two runs, a double and a homer, and Gold has hit a home run in two straight games.
New Hampshire has now homered in 12 of their last 14 games and hit multiple homers in 10 of their last 12.
Gabriel Ponce worked out of a base-loaded, no-outs jam in the fifth inning with the help a double play turned by Luis De Los Santos. Ponce threw two scoreless innings after Tiedemann. Andrew Bash (W, 8-3) earned his fourth win in his last four outings with 4.0 innings of work and five strikeouts. Richmond didn’t score until the ninth, and Bash is now tied for the longest win streak in the Eastern League.
