READING, Penn. – A ninth-inning triple from Joshua Palacios put the New Hampshire Fisher Cats ahead for good as they took a 7-5 victory over the Reading Fightin’ Phils on Monday night.
Reading’s five runs all came prior to the end of the third inning, highlighted by a two-run shot to left by Luke Williams in the third.
Chad Spanberger put the Fisher Cats on the board with a home run of his own in the third, and New Hampshire put the game within reach in the fifth with another pair of runs. However, it was back-to-back two-out hits from Logan Warmoth and Palacios in the seventh that fueled a rally that ultimately tied things up.
The triple from Palacios, which deflected off Reading first baseman Darick Hall, brought Nash Knight around to score, with Palacios scoring shortly afterward on a Christian Williams double.
Palacios and Williams both had two hits apiece, while Reading had five players with multiple hits, with Hall also getting a pair of walks on top of his two hits.
On the mound, Addison Russ (1-5) was the loser of record for Reading after entering and failing in the ninth, recording New Hampshire’s final three outs before his evening concluded.
Willy Ortiz (3-4) got the win, entering in the fourth and recording 14 outs while only allowing two hits and two walks.
Bryan Baker earned his eighth save of the year after retiring Reading in the ninth.
The two teams meet in a doubleheader on Tuesday. New Hampshire sends Patrick Murphy (4-7, 4.71 ERA) against Reading’s Adonis Medina (5-3, 4.02 ERA) in Game 1. In Game 2, New Hampshire has named Yennsy Diaz (6-5, 3.47 ERA) as the starter against a starter yet to be named by Reading.
