Yard Goats 6, Fisher Cats 4

MANCHESTER – Four New Hampshire (22-34, 56-67) arms broke the franchise record with 20 strikeouts in the Fisher Cats’ 6-4 loss against the Hartford Yard Goats (21-35, 57-66) on Saturday night. In front of the second-largest crowd of the season of 6,969, the Fisher Cats offense rallied with two runs in the eighth and brought the tying run to the plate in the ninth but was unable to capitalize.

New Hampshire starter Nolan Perry allowed two runs in four innings and struck out seven hitters in his second start at Delta Dental Stadium. Reliever Alex Amalfi followed with five strikeouts in two innings, but the right hander allowed two runs and suffered the loss.

Gage Stanifer entered from the bullpen in the seventh and struck out the side in the seventh and eighth inning. Yondrei Rojas pitched the ninth inning and notched the final two strikeouts. The reliever ended his night with the 20th strikeout of the evening.

Box Score

Hartford starter Konner Eaton (W, 5-2) fired a quality start and struck out five in six strong frames. Reliever Carlos Torres (SV, 5) secured the final three outs of the game and notched his fifth save of the season.

Top Takeaways:

• New Hampshire broke their franchise strikeout record with 20 punchouts between four different pitchers.

• Perry (7), Amalfi (5), Stanifer (6), and Rojas (2)

• RHP Nolan Perry matched a Double-A high with four innings pitched and seven strikeouts against the Yard Goats.

• C Edward Duran slugged his first Double-A home run.

• INF Dub Gleed records two hits, two walks in the loss.

Hartford opened the scoring with two runs in the second. The Goats opened the frame with a walk from designated hitter Braylen Wimmer and a single by third baseman Dyan Jorge. Two batters later, catcher Jimmy Obertop ripped a two-run single.

New Hampshire cut their deficit in half on a groundout in the bottom of the third. Catcher Edward Duran (1) mashed a solo homer in the fourth inning, which evened the score at four.

The Yard Goats retook the lead in the fifth. Following a one-out walk, shortstop Andy Perez laced a go-ahead double to make it 3-2. In the sixth, first baseman Jack O’Dowd (6) clubbed a solo homer. Leading by two, Hartford’s Jacob Humphrey rolled an RBI knock in the seventh, which made it 5-2.

The Fisher Cats battled back in the bottom of the eighth. Designated hitter Dub Gleed and right fielder Alexis Hernandez smacked back-to-back singles. Two batters later, third baseman Cutter Coffey crushed a two-run double and made it a one-run game.

Hartford scored one final run in the top of the ninth inning to make it a 6-4 game. New Hampshire brought the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the ninth, but the Yard Goats closed out a Saturday win with a flyout.

New Hampshire and Hartford finish their six-game series on Sunday with first pitch slated for 1:05 p.m. Right-hander Austin Cates (1-6, 5.42 ERA) will start for the Fisher Cats, and the Yard Goats will counter with lefty Stu Flesland III (3-1, 2.13 ERA). Coverage begins at 12:45 p.m. on MLB.tv, the Bally Sports Live app, and the Fisher Cats Radio Network.