RICHMOND, Va. – A ninth-inning double from Forrest Wall proved to be the deciding factor on Sunday as the New Hampshire Fisher Cats concluded their sweep of the Richmond Flying Squirrels with a 2-1 victory.
Wall’s double, his 20th of the year, came off a low-and-away 1-1 pitch from Richmond reliever Melvin Adon. That would be the only hit Adon gave up during his appearance in the ninth, but it was enough to give him the loss, putting him at 2-6 on the year.
Wall now trails only Akron’s Wilson Garcia, who leads the Eastern League with 23 doubles so far this season.
New Hampshire’s other run came off a Nash Knight home run in the fifth, while Richmond’s Brandon Van Horn brought Gio Brusa home on a single in the seventh.
New Hampshire’s Brock Lundquist and Richmond’s Jonah Arenado finished 2-for-4 at the plate, with Christian Williams putting up a pair of walks for the Fisher Cats.
Although Wall put the Fisher Cats ahead, they were kept in the game by a stellar pitching performance from Yennsy Diaz.
Climbing to 5-5 on the year, Diaz hurled eight innings, allowing just six hits and a pair of walks, striking out four. Sunday’s performance marks the longest professional outing for Diaz innings-wise, finishing just six pitches short of his personal record of 103 on June 11, 2018 with Advanced-A Dunedin.
Bryan Baker got his second save in as many days after shutting down Richmond in the ninth, bumping up his seasonal total to six.
The Fisher Cats return to New Hampshire on Tuesday for a series against the Binghamton Rumble Ponies. David Peterson (2-2, 4.82 ERA) is Binghamton’s choice against New Hampshire’s Hector Perez (4-2, 5.19 ERA).
