Sea Dogs 9, Fisher Cats 6

MANCHESTER – The New Hampshire Fisher Cats (17-22, 51-55) could not overcome an early deficit and fell on Sunday at Delta Dental Stadium to the Portland Sea Dogs (22-17, 57-50), 9-6. First baseman Carter Cunningham and center fielder Victor Arias both homered in the loss.

Box Score

New Hampshire starter Jackson Wentworth (L, 5-7) was tagged for six runs, five earned, on six hits across four innings. Right-hander Aaron Munson allowed three runs in an inning out of the bullpen. Relievers TJ Brock, Kelena Sauer and Yondrei Rojas blanked the Sea Dogs over the final four innings and racked up five strikeouts.

Portland starter Jedixson Paez allowed two runs in three innings. Reliever Caleb Bolden (W, 3-5) allowed three runs in two innings but notched the win. Fellow reliever Max Carlson (SV, 2) secured a six-out save.

Top Takeaways:

• INF Dub Gleed extended his hit streak to 11 games.
• OF Victor Arias crushed a fifth-inning homer, his 10th of the season.
• INF Eric Snow tallied another multi-hit game in his first full series in Double-A.
• Fisher Cats finish the year 13-10 against Portland, win first Sea Dogs season series since 2016.

Portland scored first in the top of the second. With two outs, shortstop Mason White (2) clubbed a solo home run and made it 1-0.

New Hampshire responded in the bottom of the second. With one out, right fielder Alexis Hernandez singled and advanced to second on a groundout. Shortstop Eric Snow ripped an RBI single and tied the game.

The Sea Dogs took a big lead in the third. Left fielder Max Ferguson led off the frame with a triple. The next batter, third baseman Ahbram Liendo, lined an RBI single and put Portland ahead. Following another single, center fielder Will Turner (13) slugged a three-run home run.

In the bottom of the third, Fisher Cats first baseman Cunningham (6) launched a solo home run and made it 5-2.

The back-and-forth battle continued in the fourth. In the top of the inning, the Sea Dogs scored a run on forceout coupled with an error. In the bottom of the frame, Snow drilled a sacrifice fly, 6-3.

Portland took a commanding lead in the fifth. Designated hitter Brooks Brannon walked. Following a flyout, catcher Ronald Rosario singled to set the stage for White’s second homer of the day to make it a 9-3 game.

The Cats started to rally back. In the bottom of the fifth, center fielder Arias (10) clobbered a two-run homer. Two innings later, New Hampshire scored another run on a passed ball which cut the deficit to three at 9-6, but ended their scoring there.

New Hampshire will spend the next two weeks on the road, with road trips against Somerset and Erie on tap. First pitch on Tuesday against the Patriots from TD Bank Ballpark is slated for 6:35 p.m. Coverage begins at 6:15 on the Fisher Cats Radio Network.