Tim Lopes now has one home run this year, and it’s going to be hard for him to hit a more meaningful second one.
Lopes’ longball In the eleventh inning gave the New Hampshire Fisher Cats their first walk-off home run this season and their second walk-off win this week, sealing a 4-3 victory over the Reading Fightin’ Phils.
Reading got their scoring done early, with a pair of runs in the first and a Carlos Tocci single adding another in the third.
New Hampshire struck back quickly later in the third, with Ryan McBroom singling home Derrick Loveless and Richard Urena for the Fisher Cats’ first runs of the game.
McBroom came across the plate in the eighth to tie the contest up thanks to a Harold Ramirez double.
New Hampshire would get the winning run 90 feet from home plate with one out left in the bottom of the ninth, but Reading closer Jesen Therrien struck out Jonathan Davis to send the game into extra innings.
Therrien retired three straight batters in the tenth, and replacement Miguel Nunez retired Harold Ramirez at the beginning of the eleventh before Lopes took a 2-0 pitch toward the patio of the Hilton Garden Inn just past the left centerfield fence.
After the early troubles, New Hampshire starter Shane Dawson settled down, scattering eight hits over six innings, striking out three and walking one.
The win however would go to Andrew Case, who earned his second win in his first full week following promotion from Dunedin.
Case went one batter over the minimum after entering at the beginning of the ninth, going 1-2-3 in the ninth and eleventh.
The loss was the third of the year for Nunez, who is still waiting for his first win of 2017.
Reading starting pitcher Tyler Viza certainly deserved a win, giving up just three hits over his six innings of work, striking out seven New Hampshire batters.
Tocci and Scott Kingery each had two hits for Reading. Kingery now has five games with more than one hit against New Hampshire so far this season.
McBroom led the way on offense for the Fisher Cats, going 2-for-5 at the plate.
Lopes’ walk-off home run marks the 22nd in Fisher Cats history, and the first since Jon Berti’s blast on August 16, 2016.
Reading will seek to even the series at 6:05 p.m. on Saturday, sending righty John Richy (1-1, 6.14 ERA) against New Hampshire’s Chris Rowley.