MANCHESTER, N.H. – With the regular season dwindling down to its end, Juan Kelly’s Sunday afternoon homer proved pivotal in the New Hampshire Fisher Cats’ race for home field advantage in the Eastern League’s Eastern Division playoffs, if only for a few hours.
Kelly’s fifth inning home run broke a deadlock between the Fisher Cats and the Hartford Yard Goats, eventually leading to an 8-5 victory for New Hampshire.
Until Kelly’s three-run blast, New Hampshire and Hartford swung the game back and forth, with neither side able to firmly take control. New Hampshire scored first, with a fielding error and a first pitch Harold Ramirez RBI single providing two runs in the bottom of the first frame.
Hartford answered quickly on Omar Carrizales’ two-run homer to right in the top of the second, and the Goats briefly took the lead in their half of the fourth before a Patrick Cantwell sac fly in the bottom of the fourth brought Ramirez around to even things up again.
Although Hartford began the fifth with three straight hits, New Hampshire starting pitcher Jon Harris persevered, limiting the Goats to just two more runs. Those would be the final Hartford runs of the contest, with Kelly turning the tide on offense and the New Hampshire coming in to limit the Goats to just two more baserunners over the rest of the contest.
Forest Wall added a two-run double in the eighth, providing insurance as well as a modicum of consolation after the ejection of Andrew Guillotte between the seventh and eighth for arguing a called third strike.
Wall’s double gave him two hits on the day, a trait he shared with Ramirez, Jon Berti and Connor Panas.
Drew Weeks led the way for Hartford going 3-for-4 at the plate, with Robbie Perkins and Roberto Ramos also each contributing a pair of hits.
The win went to Harris, submitting a six-inning performance for the eighth time this year. Ryan Copping retired the last four Hartford batters to earn his third Eastern League save of the year.
Ryan Castellani also put in six innings of work as the losing pitcher of record for Hartford, the five earned runs marking the worst of his four starts against New Hampshire this season.
Despite the win, later in the evening Trenton defeated Reading, 3-0. That result clinched home-field advantage in the Eastern Division finals next week, placing Game 1 of the divisional series between New Hampshire and Trenton in Manchester on Wednesday Sept. 5th.
New Hampshire concludes its regular season with a Labor Day matinee against Hartford. Josh DeGraaf (7-5, 4.15 ERA) takes the mound for the Fisher Cats against Hartford’s Jesus Tinoco (8-12, 4.90 ERA).
