MANCHESTER, N.H. – The New Hampshire Fisher Cats’ bullpen seemed to have finally found its way last week, but Wednesday night saw them drop into old bad habits, dropping a pair of games to the Hartford Yard Goats.
The first game was a 6-4 Hartford victory, resuming play after poor field conditions suspended the game on Tuesday, where Fisher Cats starting pitcher Simeon Woods Richardson struck out the side in the top of the first.
Woods Richardson didn’t return on Wednesday, and replacement Troy Miller (1-2) would end up allowing six runs off ten hits, too much for the Fisher Cats to overcome.
The Fisher Cats tallied 11 hits in total, with multi-hit performances from Otto Lopez, Jordan Groshans and Vinny Capra. Lopez, Capra and Groshans each had a double, as did Samad Taylor.
While the game originally scheduled for Wednesday had been truncated to seven innings due to Double-A doubleheader rules, the contest would end up going nine innings anyway, with Hartford eventually winning, 8-7.
Again, the Fisher Cats would accumulate 11 hits, but ten of them came during the first four innings of the contest, with the Fisher Cats going just 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position.
Still, that would have been enough if not for the fourth blown save of the year from Brody Rodning in the sixth, giving up three runs to even up the contest.
Starter Curtis Taylor also fared poorly, allowing four runs in the first and leaving after just two innings of work. The loss would go to Andrew McInvale after he allowed an RBI single to Elehuris Montero in the ninth, the eventual game winner for Hartford. McInvale is now 1-2.
At the plate for New Hampshire in the second game, Capra, Groshans and Lopez collected multiple hits once again, as did Samad Taylor and Nick Podkul.
Groshans and Lopez also added doubles and Samad Taylor hit a pair of home runs, bringing his total to 11 on the year.
