MANCHESTER, N.H. – One day years from now, a member of the 2021 New Hampshire Fisher Cats pitching staff is going to be eating a bowl of cereal and then all of the sudden, Johan Mieses is going to hit a home run off them. Yes, that doesn’t make any sense, but it doesn’t have to – Johan Mieses hits home runs off the New Hampshire Fisher Cats. It’s just what he does.
Mieses hit his seventh dinger this month on Wednesday night, and sixth coming off New Hampshire pitching in what was the Portland Sea Dogs’ 3-2 win over the Fisher Cats.
New Hampshire struck first, with Kevin Vicuña sending a line drive to center field in the fourth, bringing Demi Orimoloye home and providing New Hampshire with a 1-0 lead that would last until the seventh.
There, the Sea Dogs tied things up on a bases loaded walk to Jeisson Rosario to even things up and Pedro Castellanos’ sac fly RBI brought Ryan Fitzgerald across the plate to give Portland a lead they would not relinquish.
After Mieses’ homer made it a two-run lead, Chris Bec brought the game back within one, sending LJ Talley home from second on a base hit. Vinny Capra came in to pinch run and Vicuña drove the first pitch he saw to right field, putting Capra 90 feet away from tying things up.
Unfortunately for Fisher Cats fans, Jose Adames retired the next two batters, closing the door on any comeback.
The win went to Matthew Kent (3-0), his second so far this year against the ‘Cats, allowing just one baserunner in four innings of relief. Brody Rodning (0-1) was the loser, giving up two hits and two walks during the seventh inning Portland rally. Kyle Johnston was solid in the no-decision for New Hampshire, going 5 1/3 innings with four hits and two walks against three strikeouts.
At the plate, the Fisher Cats received doubles from Talley, Chavez Young and Otto Lopez. That double by Lopez extended his hitting streak to 12 games, with hits in 13 of the Fisher Cats’ first 14 contests.
Next up for New Hampshire is Maximo Castillo (1-1, 4.50 ERA). He’ll take the mound at 6:35 p.m. on Thursday against Portland’s Kutter Crawford.
