Manchester Ink Link is simulating the entire 2020 New Hampshire Fisher Cats season as we wait for the real baseball to return.
Today we enter Week 14.
In case you missed it, here’s are our previous stories on the Fisher Cats’ simulated season so far.
- Pre-season
- Week 1 (end-of-week record: 2-4)
- Week 2 (end-of-week record: 5-8)
- Week 3 (end-of-week record: 9-11)
- Week 4 (end-of-week record: 11-17)
- Week 5 (end-of-week record: 13-22)
- Week 6 (end-of-week record: 16-24)
- Week 7 (end-of-week record: 19-27)
- Week 8 (end-of-week record: 21-33)
- Week 9 (end-of-week record: 23-36)
- Week 10 (end-of-week record: 24-40)
- Week 11 (end-of-week record: 28-45)
- Week 12 (end-of-week record: 31-49)
- Week 13 (end-of-week record: 33-53)
Friday, July 10 – New Hampshire 9, Trenton 4
TRENTON, N.J. – A six-run third and a three-run fifth gave the ‘Cats all the runs they needed to start off their final series before the All-Star break.
Alfredo Silverio hit a two-run double on the way to a two-hit day, with Mac James and Deiferson Barreto also contributing two hits each.
Forrest Wall also contributed a three-run double, his first hit since July 1, putting him at .271 on the year against Trenton.
On the mound, Anthony Kay gave up three runs in the fourth, two coming from Steven Sensley’s dinger, but he kept the Fisher Cats’ lead intact upon his departure in the fifth inning.
If Kay recorded one more out, he would have been in line for the win, but that instead went to Chandler Shephard. Shephard (3-3) finished off the fifth and then recorded 10 of the remaining 12 outs in the contest, striking out five Trenton batters along the way.
Shephard left in the ninth, which saw James Dykstra finish things off after Jesse Chavez left with an unspecified injury.
Following the game, the Blue Jays announced that outfielders Roemon Fields and Gabriel Guerrero would be arriving from Triple-A Buffalo for Saturday’s game.
Saturday, July 11 – Trenton 5, New Hampshire 1
TRENTON, N.J. – Kevin Smith had the Fisher Cats only RBI on the day, driving in Ryan Noda in the second after Noda reached on a double earlier in the inning.
Trenton responded with five unanswered runs, forcing out starter Thomas Hatch after three innings.
Hatch (2-4) gave up nine hits that included two home runs as well as a walk while striking out seven.
The Fisher Cats had just three hits after the second, with Samad Taylor adding a double while Smith and Deiferson Barreto provided singles. Josh Palacios had three walks in the leadoff spot putting him at 54 on the year, nine behind the league lead.
Sunday, July 12 – New Hampshire 3, Trenton 1 (12 inn.)
TRENTON, N.J. – A solo home run by Ben Revere in the top of the 12th let New Hampshire go into the All-Star break with a series win over the Thunder.
The Fisher Cats were kept in the contest by an outstanding ensemble pitching performance, beginning with Ryan Borucki’s seven Ks over the first six innings.
Kyle Regnault kept the Thunder scoreless in the seventh and eighth, passing the torch to Brett Cecil for the next four outs, followed by five more outs from Louis Coleman and a four-pitch 12th from Graham Spraker.
Spraker picked up his second save of the year while Coleman (2-3) made his first appearance in nearly three weeks to pick up the win.
At the plate, Mac James drove in Revere and Riley Adams in the fourth, giving the contest its last runs before Revere broke the stalemate.
Revere went 3-for-6 with a double in the sixth and Adams recorded a double before scoring in the fourth. James and Josh Palacios also reached base on walks two times apiece.
Wednesday, July 15 – Eastern Division 2, Western Division 0
HARRISBURG, Penn. – Josh Palacios and Brock Lundquist represented the Fisher Cats at the 2020 Eastern League All-Star Game, but neither made much of an impact in the Eastern Division’s win.
Palacios went 0-for-3 and Lundquist struck out as a pinch hitter in the sixth.
Reading’s Rodolfo Duran scored the contest’s two runs with a home run in the fifth that also brought home teammate Mickey Moniak.
Moniak only needed a home run to hit for the cycle, reaching in the fifth with a triple and adding a double and single en route to being name the game’s MVP.
Thursday, July 16 – Portland 8, New Hampshire 2
MANCHESTER, N.H. – It’s hard to win a baseball game when one team’s pitchers give up 20 hits. That was the case in the Fisher Cats’ return from the All-Star break as New Hampshire fell to 4-8 on the year against Portland.
Portland sent four runs across the plate in the first and didn’t look back, recording at least one hit over each inning of the contest, later converting those hits into insurance runs in the latter half of the game.
New Hampshire starting pitcher Anthony Kay gave up 11 of those hits, although only two of those runs were earned, with a Logan Warmoth error responsible for two of the four runs in the first.
Kay (5-6) again came just short of five full innings pitched, throwing over 90 pitches for the seventh time this season.
New Hampshire got two hit days from Deiferson Barreto and Gabriel Guerrero, with Guerrero joining Christian Williams and Josh Palacios in procuring doubles during the loss.
Earlier in the day, starting pitcher Thomas Hatch and infielder Vinny Capra were demoted to Advanced-A Dunedin with pitchers Tristan Archer and Kaleb Fleck taking their place.
Friday, July 16 – New Hampshire 4, Portland 3
MANCHESTER, N.H. – Leading off in the bottom of the ninth, Alejandro Kirk pulled a line drive off southpaw Kyle Hart, leading to a quick rally that would give the Fisher Cats a walk-off win.
Between that first-pitch fastball and a subsequent intentional walk to Ryan Noda, Hart made way for reliver Eduard Bazardo, with Ben Revere coming in to pinch run for Kirk. Deiferson Barreto then shot a groundball single up the middle to load the bases and a Josh Palacios fly ball to deep centerfield let Revere come home for the game’s winning run.
After scoring in the first, Portland held a one-run lead until Brock Lundquist’s two-run dinger in the fifth, regaining that lead in the top of the sixth off Ryan Fitzgerald’s two-run single in the top of the sixth.
Portland’s lead held until Logan Warmoth’s RBI single in the seventh brought Barreto home, tying the game until the final-inning rally.
Andrew Sopko struck out five Portland batters in his return to the starting rotation, with Brett Cecil climbing to 5-2 on the year after retiring Portland in order in the ninth.
At the plate, Barreto added a double in the seventh to go along with Kirk’s ninth-inning double, with the Fisher Cats limited to just five hits as a team over the length of the contest.
Earlier in the day, the Fisher Cats saw Samad Taylor go down to Advanced-A Dunedin, with pitcher Joey Murray coming back up from Dunedin to take his place.
Saturday, July 17 – New Hampshire 7, Portland 4
MANCHESTER, N.H. – The Fisher Cats got an array of quality performances as they climbed to 6-9 for the month of July.
Roemon Fields scored the Fisher Cats’ first run off a bases loaded walk in the second inning and Ryan Noda scored the next two Fisher Cat runs with a single in the third. Although Portland clawed back two runs in the top of the fifth, the Fisher Cats responded in the bottom half of the inning with Fields and Noda crossing the plate off RBI singles from Logan Warmoth and Ben Revere, respectively.
Fields and Noda would score again in the seventh, with Fields reaching base on a double earlier in the inning. Dieferson Barreto joined Fields and Noda in recording multiple hits during the contest.
On the mound, Ryan Borucki gave up three earned runs of six hits and two walks over six innings to raise his record to 3-7 on the year. Brett Cecil earned his eighth save of the year after retiring the side in the ninth.
Sunday, July 18 – Portland at New Hampshire (postponed, rain)
MANCHESTER, N.H. – After approximately 2.3 inches of rain an hour before Sunday’s 1:35 first pitch, the final game of New Hampshire’s final game against the Sea Dogs has been postponed. No makeup date has been announced.
