Fisher Cats Back Stroman on Record Day

MANCHESTER, N.H. - After striking out 13 in a losing effort on Tuesday night, Marcus Stroman was not going to be denied a win on Sunday. The Fisher Cats (42-46) bashed Binghamton Mets (53-32) pitching for five home runs en route to a 16-5 victory at Northeast Delta Dental Stadium. The rout came just a day after Binghamton beat the Fisher Cats 14-3 on Saturday, and it evened the series at two wins each heading into the finale on Monday afternoon.

Stroman set the tone early against the B-Mets, allowing just two soft singles while racking up four strikeouts over the first three innings. He struck out the side in the second, at one point retiring seven in a row during the early innings. From there, the Fisher Cats offense took over.

Clint Robinson began the slugfest in the third. With the bases loaded on walks by starter Erik Goeddel (L; 7-2) Robinson boomed a fastball off the video board in right-center for a grand slam and a 4-0 lead.

Runs of the two-out variety were the story of the fifth inning. After Stroman allowed a homer in the top half, Ryan Schimpf, Brian Van Kirk, and Jon Talley put together three straight run-scoring hits with two outs to grow the lead to 8-1.

In the seventh, leading 8-2, the Fisher Cats started to have some real run. Andy Burns led off the inning with his first Double-A home run. A hit batter and a walk followed, which set up Talley for a three-run homer to center field to make it 12-2.

With two outs and a man aboard, Clint Robinson extended the inning with his fourth hit of the game. That allowed Brad Glenn to send his eleventh home run rattling off the façade of the Samuel Adams Bar & Grill. Burns followed again, smacking his second homer of the inning to straight-away center to cap an eight-run inning.

All told, New Hampshire hit five home runs on the day, a season high. The team clubbed a record four home runs in the seventh inning with Burns becoming the first Fisher Cat to ever hit two homers in a single inning in that decisive frame.

Stroman (W; 5-2) earned the win by tossing a career-best seven innings, giving up just two runs on a pair of solo jacks. He struck out eight without walking a batter. In his last two starts, one win and one defeat, he has pitched 13.2 frames while recording 21 strikeouts.

Binghamton tacked on late runs against reliever Randy Boone, scoring one in the eighth and two in the ninth to cap the scoring at 16-5.

The teams will wrap up series in the final game before the All-Star break at 12:05 p.m. on Monday afternoon. It's a Camp & Splash Day with splash zones, dunk tanks, and water games, presented by Whale's Tale Water Park. Tickets are available at www.nhfishercats.com, at the Fisher Cats ticket office, and by calling (603) 641-2005.

The pitching match-up on Monday features lefty Sean Nolin (5-2, 2.61) against Binghamton lefty Darin Gorski (2-0, 2.57). Radio coverage begins at 11:45 a.m. with Tom Gauthier and Bob Lipman on the WGIR Fisher Cats Radio Network and www.nhfishercats.com.