Yard Goats 8, Fisher Cats 5

HARTFORD, CT – Jordan Groshans homered for the seventh time this year and Chris Bec hit a grand slam, but the New Hampshire Fisher Cats (Toronto Blue Jays Double-A affiliate) fell to the Hartford Yard Goats (Colorado Rockies) 8-5 at Dunkin’ Donuts Park.

BOX SCORE

Groshan (2-4, HR, RBI, R), the Blue Jays’ fourth-ranked prospect, hit a solo home run off of Hartford (31-63) starter Ryan Feltner (W, 4-2) in the top of the second inning to put the Fisher Cats in the lead, 1-0. However, that lead was short-lived, as the Yard Goats got a solo home run from Casey Golden to tie the game at 1. Reilly Hovis (L, 2-3) then surrendered home runs to Jose Gomez and Sean Bouchard before departing the game after three innings with the score 4-1 Hartford.

Hartford extended its lead to 8-1 after putting up runs in the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings. The Fisher Cats (44-47) utilized five relief pitchers in the effort – Emerson Jimenez, Jon Harris, Marcus Reyes, Parker Caracci, and Sean Rackoski – all of whom worked an inning apiece.

New Hampshire tightened the contest in the seventh inning. After loading the bases, Bec hit his second home run of the year, a grand slam to left field to make it 8-5. The grand slam was New Hampshire’s sixth of the season, breaking the record for most grand slams in a season that had stood since 2010. Will Gaddis would come in and work a scoreless ninth to pick up his fourth save of the season.

Hartford announced that Sunday’s contest, initially slated for 1:05 p.m., has been cancelled due to the landfall of Hurricane Henri. Hartford’s win tonight concluded the season series, with New Hampshire the victors at a record of 13-10. The Fisher Cats winning the series three games to two means New Hampshire has not lost a series since the second week of July.