Patriots 5, Fisher Cats 1

BRIDGEWATER, N.J. – Johnny King, Toronto’s No. 3 prospect (L, 0-1), made his Double-A debut Saturday, but the New Hampshire Fisher Cats (17-28, 51-60)  fell to the Somerset Patriots (23-21, 59-54), 5-1. King allowed two runs on four hits, walked five and struck out five batters. The lefty faced 18 batters and fired 74 pitches, 43 of them for strikes.

Box Score

Fisher Cats’ pitching struck out 11 batters in the loss. Reliever Alex Amalfi was the first to emerge from the bullpen but was tagged for four runs in two innings and struck out three. Daniel Guerra struck out the side in the seventh and Jonathan Todd tossed a scoreless eighth.

Somerset starter Cade Smith (W, 6-7) fired seven innings of one-run ball and struck out six. Relievers Geoff Gilbert and Michael Arias finished the effort for Somerset’s fifth straight win in the series, their tenth straight over New Hampshire.

Top Takeaways:

• LHP Johnny King struck out five batters across four innings in his Double-A debut.
• 1B Carter Cunningham has recorded an RBI in five of his last six contests.
• RHP Daniel Guerra twirled his first scoreless outing in Double-A.
• New Hampshire has dropped 10 straight games against Somerset.

Somerset struck first on Saturday. Following a walk by shortstop Core Jackson, second baseman Roderick Arias ripped an RBI double which made it 1-0.

The Patriots extended their lead in the bottom of the third. Jackson and Arias worked back-to-back walks to open the inning. Following a ground out, right fielder DJ Gladney plated Jackson from third on a sacrifice fly and made it 2-0.

New Hampshire cut the deficit in half with a run in the top of the fourth. Center fielder Victor Arias walked, stole second, and advanced to third on a flyout to right. With one out, New Hampshire first baseman Carter Cunningham laced an RBI knock to right field and cut the deficit to 2-1.

Somerset’s big inning came in the sixth. After a leadoff single, catcher Manny Palencia (4) launched a two-run homer, his second homer against New Hampshire this week. Left fielder Cole Gabrielson walked and stole second, and after an Amalfi strikeout, scored on an RBI single from Jackson to balloon the lead to 5-1.

New Hampshire and Somerset finish their six-game series on Sunday with first pitch slated for 5:05 p.m.. Right-hander Jackson Wentworth (5-7, 4.96 ERA) will make the start against Patriots’ starter Rory Fox (1-0, 4.40 ERA). Coverage begins at 4:45 p.m. on the Fisher Cats Radio Network.