HARRISBURG, Penn. – There are two things that the 2018 New Hampshire Fisher Cats have come to count on so far this season: getting runs in bunches and at least five strong innings from Sean Reid-Foley or Jordan Romano.
Romano certainly lived up to that expectation on Friday night, helping the Fisher Cats break their three-game slide with a 5-0 victory over the Harrisburg Senators.
The Markham, Ontario native left after Zach Collier collected a one-out triple, only the second time he allowed a runner in scoring position over the evening.
Danny Young would retire the side and keep the Senators scoreless in the seventh and eighth to pick up his fourth hold of the year and Kirby Snead closed the door in the ninth to bring Romano up to 6-0 on the year.
Harrisburg starting pitcher Luis Reyes (2-4) was almost as impressive despite being the losing pitcher of record, holding the vaunted Fisher Cat bats to just three hits and two walks in 6 1/3 innings of work.
Unfortunately for Reyes, he allowed one of those walks and one of those hits back-to-back in the third, which was enough for Jonathan Davis to follow with a sacrifice fly RBI.
That brought home Gunnar Heidt would serve as the game’s only score until Cavan Biggio’s home run in the eighth. Biggio’s blast, his home run this week and second home run in as many days, brought Davis and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. across the plate.
With that home run, Davis, Guerrero and Biggio moved into first, second and seventh place respectively in runs scored among Eastern League batters, with Guerrero tying fellow Fisher Cat Bo Bichette in the second spot at 25 runs scored.
Connor Panas provided an RBI single later in that inning for more insurance, allowing Max Pentecost to score his ninth run of the year.
It was a fairly quiet night by New Hampshire’s lofty offensive standards, as Pentecost was the only Fisher Cat with more than one hit, going 2-for-4. Dan Gamache and Yadiel Hernandez also recorded two hits, with both men extending their multi-hit streak to three games.
Sean Reid Foley (5-0, 1.83 ERA) will look to give New Hampshire their second win in a row on Saturday as the Fisher Cats return for a 6 p.m. contest against Harrisburg southpaw Logan Darnell (2-0, 1.98 ERA)
