Manchester, N.H. – Despite a late comeback effort, the New Hampshire Fisher Cats (Toronto Blue Jays Double-A affiliate) fell to the Binghamton Rumble Ponies (New York Mets) 7-5 at Delta Dental Stadium on Wednesday.
The Rumble Ponies (44-51) pushed across a run in the opening frame against Fisher Cats starter Maximo Castillo (L, 10-4). Jake Mangum singled with one out, and with Brett Baty batting, he stole second. Baty moved Mangum to third with a groundout, and Mark Vientos followed with an RBI single to center to put Binghamton on top 1-0.
The Fisher Cats (45-48) responded in the bottom of the first against Dustin Beggs (W, 4-3). Samad Taylor was hit by a pitch with one out, and later stole second. Two batters later, Jordan Groshans reached a fielding error by third baseman Baty, allowing Taylor to score to knot the game at 1-1.
Binghamton jumped back ahead in the top of the second on a two-run double from Carlos Cortes to give them a 3-1 edge, but New Hampshire answered with a run in the bottom of the second.
After Kevin Vicuna walked, LJ Talley lined a single to center to put runners at the corners with nobody out. Then, Chris Bec brought home a run on an RBI fielder’s choice to make it 3-2.
But in the fourth, Cortes grounded an RBI single to center and Mangum drilled a two-run homer to right to increase the Binghamton lead to 6-2.
The Fisher Cats plated their final run against Beggs in the fifth on an RBI groundout from Vinny Capra to bring the score to 6-3. Beggs earned the win, tossing five innings and allowing four hits and three runs (two earned) while walking three and striking out one.
Brandon Eisert tossed two scoreless innings (2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 K) of relief for New Hampshire before Connor Law relieved him in the seventh.
Mark Vientos smacked his 22nd homer on a solo shot to right to put Binghamton up 7-3.
The Fisher Cats drew two runs closer in the eighth on an RBI single by Chavez Young and a sacrifice fly by Talley made it a 7-5 game.
New Hampshire brought the tying run to the plate in the ninth, but Jared Robinson locked down his fourth save of the year.
The series with Binghamton continues on Thursday at 7:05 p.m. RHP Nick Fraze (0-0, 5.00 ERA) is scheduled to start the game for the Fisher Cats against RHP Justin Lasko (1-1, 1.64 ERA).
