Brown Homers as Rogers Earns Second-Straight Win
BOWIE, MD – The New Hampshire Fisher Cats (11-17, 40-57) defeated the Chesapeake Baysox (12-17, 43-53) at Prince George’s Stadium on Wednesday afternoon, 7-5. Trailing 2-0 in the top of the third inning, New Hampshire right fielder Devonte Brown crushed a 442-foot solo home run as the first of five
BOWIE, MD – The New Hampshire Fisher Cats (11-17, 40-57) defeated the Chesapeake Baysox (12-17, 43-53) at Prince George’s Stadium on Wednesday afternoon, 7-5. Trailing 2-0 in the top of the third inning, New Hampshire right fielder Devonte Brown crushed a 442-foot solo home run as the first of five unanswered runs in the Fisher Cats’ midweek win.
Fisher Cats righty Grant Rogers (W, 4-6) started and surrendered two, two-run homers and came one out short of his seventh consecutive game going six or more innings. Rogers allowed four runs on eight hits and struck out six batters to no walks in 5-2/3 innings of work. Righty Nate Garkow picked up the final out of the sixth inning and dealt 1-1/3 scoreless innings of relief with one strikeout. Reliever Alex Amalfi allowed one run in one inning of relief before Conor Larkin (S, 5) pitched the bottom of the ninth inning. Despite Chesapeake bringing the winning run to the plate in the ninth, Larkin shut the door to capture his fifth save of the year.
Today’s top takeaways:
SS Cade Doughty drove in a run, extended hit streak to 11 games
RF Devonte Brown crushes sixth homer of the year
1B Jackson Hornung doubles, records multi-hit game
RHP Nate Garkow works his 13th scoreless relief outing
RHP Conor Larkin notches fifth save of the year
Starting his Major League rehab assignment with Chesapeake, Tyler Wells retired all six batters he faced in two innings and struck out one. Right-hander Zach Fruit (L, 0-3) took over in the top of the third inning and went on to toss 3-2/3 innings, allowing five runs on six hits with six punchouts.
Baysox first baseman Adam Retzbach cracked a one-out, two-run shot in the bottom of the first inning as Chesapeake took an early 2-0 lead.
The Fisher Cats responded in the top of the third inning when Brown drilled a 442-foot solo homer to cut the deficit to 2-1. New Hampshire added two more runs in the top of the fourth on a double from second baseman Ryan McCarty before designated hitter Je’Von Ward cashed in McCarty on a sacrifice fly to put the Cats in front, 3-2.
Devonte Brown’s home run on Wednesday was his third following the MLB All-Star break and his fourth of the month of July, second-most by a Fisher Cats batter this month. Five of Brown’s eight hits in July have been for extra bases.
New Hampshire added to its lead in the top of the fifth inning when catcher Nicolas Deschamps led off with a walk and first baseman Jackson Hornung followed with a double. After Deschamps raced home on a wild pitch, shortstop Cade Doughty singled to plate Hornung and make it a 5-2 game.
With his single in the top of the fifth, Doughty moved his hit streak to 11 games and is hitting .395 (17-for-43) since the streak began on July 12.
A two-run homer from Chesapeake center fielder Frederick Bencosme cut New Hampshire’s lead to 5-4 in the bottom of the sixth inning. The Fisher Cats would respond with two more runs in the top of the seventh inning when Brown reached on a hit-by-pitch a came around to score on a wild pitch. Doughty drove in his second run of the game on a sacrifice fly to center field that brought home Deschamps to make it 7-4.
The Fisher Cats and Baysox play the third game of their six-game series at 6:35 PM EDT on Thursday night. Right-hander Trey Gibson (3-2, 1.96 ERA) gets the start for Chesapeake and New Hampshire’s starter is to be determined.
New Hampshire returns to Delta Dental Stadium on Tuesday, August 5, to open a six-game series with the Reading Fightin Phils. The Fisher Cats host Country Night on Thursday, and PopStar Night (Fungo’s Version) takes center stage on Friday night. Fans are encouraged to wear red to the ballpark for Love Your Heart Night on Saturday, featuring blood pressure screenings and opportunities to learn more about heart health. The first 1,000 fans in attendance for Sunday’s game will go home with a Golden Glove Dasan Brown bobblehead, courtesy of Northeast Delta Dental.
Fans can purchase 2025 multi-game memberships and single-game tickets at nhfishercats.com, via email at [email protected], by phone at (603) 641-2005, and in-person at the Delta Dental Stadium Box Office on 1 Line Drive in Manchester, New Hampshire.
About the New Hampshire Fisher Cats
The New Hampshire Fisher Cats are the Double-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays and play their games at Delta Dental Stadium in Manchester. Over 160 former Fisher Cats have reached the Major League level. The Fisher Cats have raised millions of dollars for various charities through the Fisher Cats Foundation and continuously strive to improve the quality of life for Granite State residents. The organization has been recognized as New Hampshire Business Review’s “Best Sporting Event to Take Clients to”, Parenting New Hampshire Magazine’s “New Hampshire’s Favorite Sporting Event for Families”, and New Hampshire Magazine’s “Best New Hampshire Sports Team”. For more information on the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, please visit nhfishercats.com, call (603) 641-2005, or contact Chris Jared via email at [email protected].