New Hampshire 3-6-1Hartford 1-5-0WP: Jordan Romano (10-4)LP: Rico Garcia (3-1)S: Travis Bergen (6)HR: Bichette (9), Panas (8), Guerrero Jr. (14)T- 2:40A- 6,850
New Hampshire 3-6-1
Hartford 1-5-0
WP: Jordan Romano (10-4)
LP: Rico Garcia (3-1)
S: Travis Bergen (6)
HR: Bichette (9), Panas (8), Guerrero Jr. (14)
T- 2:40
A- 6,850
HARTFORD- Yard Goats pitchers turned in a sharp outing, but on Whalers Alumni Weekend, it was the New Hampshire Fisher Cats who turned in a home run hat trick to beat Hartford 3-1, Friday night, before a capacity crowd of 6,850 at Dunkin' Donuts Park. It was the 31st sellout of the season and lifted the Goats' season attendance to 299,725. Six of Hartford's last seven home games have been played before capacity crowds.
Yard Goats starter Rico Garcia turned in a quality start, but three of the six hits he allowed were home runs to Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette and Conor Panas. He walked two and struck out seven. Relievers Sean Nolin, Logan Cozart and Matt Pierpont then retired nine of the 10 batters they faced, but it was not enough to stop first place New Hampshire (58-44), which beat Hartford for the 14th time in 16 meetings.
Starter Jordan Romano notched his Eastern League leading 10th victory, pitching five innings and holding Hartford (49-53) to one unearned run on three hits. He walked one and struck out six. Relievers Kirby Snead, Dusty Isaacs and Travis Bergen then slammed the door on the Goats, with six of the last seven Yard Goats batters retired on strike outs. Hartford, which lost for the fourth straight time, scored its only run on a sacrifice fly by Roberto Ramos and was 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position, as New Hampshire pitching held the Goats to five hits. Bichette, the only player in the game to garner two hits, had a double to go with his home run for New Hampshire.
Game three of the series is Saturday night at 6:05, as the Whaler Alumni Weekend continues at Dunkin' Donuts Park. RHP Frank Duncan will start for the Yard Goats against RHP Josh DeGraaf for New Hampshire. The game will be televised on Vantage Sportsnet, broadcast on AM 1410 WPOP and streamed on newsradio1410.iheart.com and MiLB.com.
