Lantigua puts on clinic as Cats herd Goats

Manchester, New Hampshire – Rafael Lantigua led the charge for New Hampshire on Friday night, going 3-for-3 with a double, two RBIs and a walk. The infielder played left field and looked more than comfortable, making a running catch by the wall in the sixth inning. After a close loss last night, Lantigua’s efforts were enough to power the Fisher Cats (4-6, 35-44) to a 6-2 win over the Hartford Yard Goats (Colorado Rockies, 5-5, 48-31).

In the first Fisher Cats at bat, Lantigua snuck a single through the hole at second base. After a wild pitch and a groundout, he came home to scoring the first run on another wild pitch from Nick Bush.

New Hampshire and Hartford would then exchange runs over the next four innings.

Ryan Gold smoked his third homer of the year over the wall in right field in the third inning to put New Hampshire back in front, 2-1. Gold’s last homer was on June 24 against Altoona.

Second baseman Davis Schneider also had a nice night, going 2-for-3 in the eight spot. Schneider was promoted from High-A Vancouver on June 25. He was named Northwest League Player of the Week on June 12.

Phil Clarke also had two hits in his first game in 14 days. Clarke played as the designated hitter in the six-hole, and hitters six through nine were a combined 5-for-14.

After a Hartford run in the top of the fourth inning, Lantigua drove home Schneider and Clarke on a two-out double into the right field corner to put New Hampshire up, 4-2. He now has 25 doubles on the season, tied for the Eastern League lead. For comparison, Sebastian Espino is second on the New Hampshire team in doubles with 13.

Braden Scott and Cre Finfrock fanned a combined eight batters across the middle innings to keep New Hampshire’s lead intact. Scott, the southpaw from Indiana University, threw 2.0 shutout innings with five strikeouts. Finfrock, a UCF product, then went 1.1 scoreless with one walk and three punchouts.

Two unearned runs in the seventh inning were enough to give New Hampshire breathing room. The Cats shut out Hartford from the fifth inning on and won, 6-2.

Closer Parker Caracci finished off the game with his eighth straight scoreless outing. In his last 10.2 innings, Caracci has allowed no runs and a total of five hits, striking out 16.

The Fisher Cats continue their homestand tomorrow, July 9 at 7:05 p.m. against the Hartford Yard Goats (Colorado Rockies). 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.