Manchester, NH- The Hartford Yard Goats beat the New Hampshire Fisher Cats by the score of 4-1 on Friday night at Northeast Delta Dental Stadium in Manchester New Hampshire. Yard Goats starting pitcher Konner Wade hurled seven scoreless innings and catcher Jan Vázquez homered to ignite a three-run rally in
Manchester, NH- The Hartford Yard Goats beat the New Hampshire Fisher Cats by the score of 4-1 on Friday night at Northeast Delta Dental Stadium in Manchester New Hampshire. Yard Goats starting pitcher Konner Wade hurled seven scoreless innings and catcher Jan Vázquez homered to ignite a three-run rally in the seventh inning as Hartford ended a five-game losing streak. Josh Fuentes had a pair of doubles and was stellar defensively at third base. This was 17th game of the Plymouth Rock Assurance Cup between the Yard Goats and Fisher Cats, which New Hampshire leads nine games to eight.
The Yard Goats scored the first run in the third inning to take a 1-0 lead off Fisher Cats starter Conner Greene. Ryan Metzler led off the inning with a single and moved to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Omar Carrizales. He took third base on Josh Fuentes' double and later scored on a groundout by Drew Weeks.
Yard Goats starter Konner Wade got off to an impressive start and retired 12 of the first 14 batters faced over the first four innings. He allowed back-to-back singles to start the fifth inning but got a double play grounder and then recorded his fourth strikeout, fanning Derrick Loveless to end the threat. Then, Wade pitched around a first and second situation in the sixth inning and got Lourdes Gurriel Jr. to hit into an inning ending double play.
The Yard Goats scored three runs in the seventh inning to take a 4-0 lead. Jan Vázquez started the rally with a leadoff home run, a line drive over the right centerfield fence, making it 2-0 Hartford. After Max White singled and Ryan Metzler walked, Omar Carrazales drove home White with an RBI single off reliever Justin Shaffer, giving the Yard Goats a 3-0 lead. Later in the inning, White scored on Shaffer's wild pitch making it 4-0 Yard Goats.
The Fisher Cats were down to their final out in the ninth inning when Reese McGuire hit a solo home run off reliever Matt Pierpont. It was his sixth homer of the season to make it a 4-1 game. Pierpont retired Tim Lopes on a grounder to end the game.
The Yard Goats and Fisher Cats will play the third game of a four game series on Saturday night (7:05PM) in Manchester, New Hampshire. LHP Jack Wynkoop will start for the Yard Goats while LHP Ryan Borucki will pitch for the Fisher Cats. The broadcast can be heard on AM 1410 WPOP or on iheart radio.
