PORTLAND, MAINE – The New Hampshire Fisher Cats, the Double-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays, could not hold their two-run lead in the ninth, falling on a walk-off bases loaded walk on Tuesday night by a score of 9-8 against the Portland Sea Dogs from Hadlock Field.
After an error by Portland (12-4, 52-33) third baseman Chase Meidroth off the bat of Leo Jimenez that brought home two runs, New Hampshire (4-10, 39-43) held an 8-6 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth.
With right-hander Connor Cooke (1-2) pitching, Nathan Hickey lined an RBI single to make it a one-run game and Tyler McDonough, down to his final out, blooped a game-tying double off the glove of left-fielder Trevor Schwecke to tie the score 8-8.
After an intentional walk of Pablo Reyes loaded the bases, Nick Yorke drew a walk against Gabriel Ponce on a full count pitch to bring home the winning run.
It’s the eighth walk-off loss for the Fisher Cats this year and the fourth against the Sea Dogs. New Hampshire has yet to win on a walk-off this season.
New Hampshire trailed by as much as four after giving up five runs in the first three innings but took a 6-5 lead in the sixth. Rainer Nunez blasted his third Double-A homer with a two-run shot off the batter’s eye. Miguel Hiraldo’s RBI single into center made it a one-run game and Will Robertson stole home after Hiraldo stole second to tie the score. Andres Sosa collected his first Double-A RBI with a bloop single into shallow center to give New Hampshire the lead.
The Fisher Cats used six relievers in the contest after starting left-hander Jimmy Robbins recorded only two outs. Right-hander Andrew Bash threw three scoreless innings with five strikeouts and left-hander Mason Fluharty threw a scoreless seventh inning of relief.
The Fisher Cats continue their road trip tomorrow night against the Portland Sea Dogs at 6:00 pm. RHP Adam Kloffenstein (4-4, 3.08 ERA) will get the start for New Hampshire against RHP Isaac Coffey (3-0, 3.93 ERA) for Portland.
