Finishing strong — New Hampshire wins Friday in total team effort

Manchester, N.H. – Friday night’s game between New Hampshire and Harrisburg was tied three separate times, and the good guys pulled away to win in front of their home crowd at Delta Dental Stadium. The Fisher Cats (26-41, 57-79) scored late and secured the 5-4 victory over the Senators (Washington Nationals, 22-44, 52-83) in their third to last game of the 2022 season.

The win was a total team effort. Eight of the nine players in the lineup had hits. Pitchers had bright spots, and there were no errors.

Tied, 3-3, at the seventh inning stretch, New Hampshire scored a pair of runs across the next two frames. Zac Cook smoked a solo homer, his 15th of the season, over the right field wall. In the eighth, Luis De Los Santos doubled, and Addison Barger singled to bring him home for what proved to be the game-winning run.

But New Hampshire had big hits in big spots throughout most of the night, too. In the bottom of the second inning, Sebastian Espino crushed a wall-scraping double to the deepest part of the ballpark, scoring Phil Clarke to tie the game, 1-1.

Harrisburg went up, 2-1, in the third, but Orelvis Martinez tied the game with one swing in the bottom half of the fourth. He took the first pitch from Senators starter Jake Irvin to the seats in left field in front of the Sam Adams Brewhouse.

The home run was Martinez’s 30th of the season. He is the first Fisher Cat to ever reach that mark and the 14th player in all of Minor League Baseball with 30 or more dingers this season. The 20-year-old is ranked the No. 3 prospect in the Toronto system.

In the sixth, De Los Santos and Barger got on base with a single and a double, respectively. Clarke brought in the go-ahead run with a groundout, and the Fisher Cats took their first lead, 3-2. The duo of De Los Santos and Barger was a combined 4-for-8 with two runs, two doubles and one RBI.

Starter Paxton Schultz was terrific, dealing his second quality start of the season. He went 6.0 innings and allowed five hits and two earned runs, one of which came on a solo homer. Schultz walked two and struck out six. He finishes the 2022 season with a 4.04 ERA and a 7-6 record.

The Senators spoiled Schultz’s chance at a win with a run in the top of the seventh, but New Hampshire responded with the two crucial runs. Harrisburg scored one in the top of the ninth, but Jimmy Burnette finished out the game with a one-out save, striking out Nationals No. 1 prospect Robert Hassell III. He was dealt to Washington in the Juan Soto trade.

The Fisher Cats have just two games remaining in the 2022 season. First pitch for Saturday night’s game is at 6:35 p.m. Tickets can be found at NHFisherCats.com, via email at [email protected], over the phone at (603) 641-2005, or in-person at the Fisher Cats box office at 1 Line Drive in Manchester.