New Hampshire downed in extras at Portland

Portland, Maine – The New Hampshire Fisher Cats (31-39) suffered their first extra innings loss of the season, 5-4, at the hands of the Portland Sea Dogs (Boston Red Sox, 31-39) on Tuesday night at Hadlock Field. With the Fisher Cats down to their final out, Rafael Lantigua roped a two-RBI double to tie the game, but Portland would win on a walk-off sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 10th inning.

Trailing, 4-2, going into the ninth inning, Portland brought in closer Jake Thompson, who boasted a 0.82 ERA and had not given up an earned run since May 15. Luis De Los Santos started off the inning with a single, and Zac Cook and Ryan Gold were both hit by pitches to load the bases with two outs.

Lantigua then took a 1-1 pitch the opposite way into right field for a two-run double that tied the game, 4-4. The 5-foot-8 second baseman has hit 21 doubles on the season, tied for first in the Eastern League.

De Los Santos’ ninth inning hit was nothing new. The infielder from the Dominican Republic is now 11-for-20 (.550) in ninth innings this season. He finished 2-for-5 with a run scored.

After a shutout bottom of the ninth, New Hampshire could not score in the top of the 10th, and Portland’s Hudson Potts lifted a walk-off sacrifice fly deep into left field with the bases loaded to cement the Fisher Cats’ loss.

Cook had his best game at the plate this season, going 3-for-3 with a double and two singles. Tuesday was his first three-hit game of the season. After his double in the fifth inning, Gold doubled as well to bring Cook home and tie the game, 2-2.

Andrew Bash was brilliant through three innings of relief to keep the score tied. The righty drafted by the Angels went 3.0 perfect innings with four strikeouts before running into trouble in the seventh. Sean Mellen (L, 2-1) inherited runners on first and third from Bash and nearly worked out of the jam before Portland hit a two-out, bloop triple to score two runs and put the Sea Dogs up, 4-2.

Coming off a quality start against Altoona last week, Nick Fraze worked 4.0 innings and gave up two runs on five hits. He walked two and struck out three. Both runs scored off Fraze came in the fourth inning — one on an RBI single, and the other on a fielder’s choice.

In the top of the first, Spencer Horwitz hit a solo homer off Josh Taylor, who was making a MLB rehab start for the Boston Red Sox. Lefty ace Chris Sale is scheduled to make a rehab start for Portland on Thursday against New Hampshire, too.

New Hampshire continues their series against Portland at Hadlock Field tomorrow, June 29 with first pitch at 6:00 p.m.

The Fisher Cats return to Delta Dental Stadium July 4 through July 10 against the Hartford Yard Goats (Colorado Rockies). New Hampshire will play their only Monday game of the season of July 4 and will celebrate with The Biggest Fireworks Show in Fisher Cats History. 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.