Pearson does his part

AKRON, Ohio – Nate Pearson tossed six scoreless innings for the Fisher Cats and Santiago Espinal‘s successful squeeze bunt in the top of the eighth inning scored the winning run in New Hampshire’s 2-1 win over Akron at Canal Park on Tuesday night.

BOX SCORE

Pearson, the No. 28 overall pick in the 2017 draft, extended his scoreless streak over his last three starts to 12.2 innings. He allowed two hits – singles by consecutive batters to start the bottom of the fifth – but did not allow a run to score. He walked three and struck out five.

With the game tied at 1-1 entering the eighth inning, Logan Warmoth walked and Forrest Wall singled him to third. Espinal’s bunt down the first base line allowed Warmoth to score what would be the winning run.

Earlier in the game, the Fisher Cats ended a drought of 143 at bats without a home run when Kevin Smith blasted his team-leading sixteenth of the season with two outs in the top of the fifth inning to put New Hampshire up 1-0.

Akron tied the game in the bottom of the seventh inning. Alex Call doubled and moved to third on a wild pitch. A single by Alexis Pantoja drove in Call.

Vinny Nittoli (W, 2-2) allowed the Akron run, but earned the win in relief. Scoreless innings by Jake Fishman and Corey Copping finished off the series opening win for New Hampshire. It was Copping’s first save for the Fisher Cats this season.

Akron starter Adam Scott allowed just the Smith homer in his 6.2 innings. Jared Robinson took the loss for the RubberDucks, now 1-2.