MANCHESTER, N.H. – Northeast Delta Dental Stadium was at just over 106 percent capacity on Wednesday morning as the New Hampshire Fisher Cats took a 9-3 early matinee win against the Reading Fightin’ Phils.
Alberto Mineo opened things up with a solo home run in the second and finished the day 4-for-4 with five RBI and only a triple separating him from the third cycle in Fisher Cat history.
Mineo and Brock Lundquist each scored two runs while Kevin Smith also contributed a run and three RBI as the Fisher Cat trio combined for eight of New Hampshire’s 12 total hits on the day.
In the fourth, all three men helped to negate a third inning one-run homer from Reading’s Josh Stephen, taking three consecutive hits off Reading’s Bailey Falter. The third hit in that onslaught was Kevin Smith’s third homer of the year, providing New Hampshire a lead it would not relinquish.
Mineo brought Lundquist home in the sixth for New Hampshire’s fifth run while Forest Wall’s RBI single sparked a four run seventh for the hosts.
Reading’s other consolation runs came in the eighth but were unearned, leaving Fisher Cat reliever Jake Fishman with just four earned runs allowed in his last ten appearances.
Falter (3-2) got the loss, allowing five runs and eight hits in 5 1/3 innings of work.
The win went to Patrick Murphy (2-4), who arguably equaled Mineo’s brilliance, giving up just three hits over seven innings, striking out ten Reading batters in the process.
The Fisher Cats open a four-game series tomorrow night in Hartford. RHP Hector Perez (2-2, 7.33 ERA) is slated to start for New Hampshire against southpaw Ty Culbreth (3-2, 4.08 ERA) for the Yard Goats