MANCHESTER, N.H. – The New Hampshire Fisher Cats welcome the Altoona Curve to the Granite State on Tuesday night with a 5-0 victory, opening up the only three-game set this season between the two teams.
Yennsy Diaz went seven innings for his second consecutive start, limiting the Curve to just a pair of hits and a pair of walks, striking out eight Altoona batters in the process.
Altoona’s Sean Brady kept the ‘Cats at bay for the majority of his outing as well, allowing only Brock Lundquist’s RBI single in the fifth before the hosts finally broke through.
That moment came in the seventh, when Brady left with one out with Forrest Wall on third and Santiago Espinal on second. Reliever Vincente Campos almost immediately allowed Wall to come home on a Vinny Capra RBI sacrifice fly, with Christian Williams bringing three more runs across the plate via his first Eastern league home run.
Williams’ blast gave New Hampshire enough of a cushion to last the evening as Vinny Nittoli and Mike McClelland combined to limit Altoona to just one more hit over the final two innings.
Diaz climbed to 4-3 with the win while Brady is now 1-4 on the year.
At the plate, Wall, Williams and Lundquist joined Riley Adams and Andres Sotillo in the two-hit club, with Williams also adding a double to his homer.
The Fisher Cats (20-22) continue the series with the Curve (22-21) on Wednesday at 6:35 p.m. with Hector Perez (2-2, 6.82 ERA) slated to start for New Hampshire against southpaw Cam Vieaux (2-2, 2.84 ERA) for Altoona.
