New Hampshire Rally Comes Up Short at Altoona

Altoona, Pa. – The New Hampshire Fisher Cats (7-6) fell, 8-7, to the Altoona Curve (Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-7) on Friday night in their third straight defeat of the series.

New Hampshire scored five runs in the top of the ninth despite tallying just one hit in the inning. Altoona walked five batters, hit Zac Cook with a pitch and committed two errors during the comeback. The game ended when Sebastian Espino was tagged out at third base.

Altoona threatened early, loading the bases in the bottom of the first. Fisher Cats starter Paxton Schultz responded with a strikeout to end the inning.

The Curve added six hits across the second and third innings, including two home runs. Altoona led, 4-0, after three. Schultz finished with 4.1 innings of work and allowed four earned runs while walking two and striking out four.

Curve starter Luis Ortiz breezed through the New Hampshire order in the first three innings, allowing just one base hit to Will Robertson.

The Fisher Cats tagged Ortiz for three base hits in his second trip through the order. Rafael Lantigua doubled, and Luis De Los Santos drove in two runs with a two-out base hit to right field in the fourth inning. De Los Santos finished with three hits and three RBIs in the game, and he has six hits and five RBIs in the series. Altoona led, 4-2, after four.

New Hampshire reliever Cre Finfrock threw 2.2 innings after Schultz, his longest outing of the season. Finfrock forced two double plays, gave up one run, walked two and struck out one.

After four more Altoona runs in the seventh and eighth, the Fisher Cats trailed, 8-2, heading into the ninth.

New Hampshire forced Altoona closers Will Kobos and Enmanuel Mejia to throw a combined 46 pitches. Just 21 of them were strikes. De Los Santos scored on a wild pitch. Steward Berroa and Tanner Morris scored on a double-error, and Lantigua scored on another wild pitch. De Los Santos singled in his second at bat of the inning to score Spencer Horwitz, but Espino was tagged out after overrunning third base on the play. The five runs in the ninth were the most by New Hampshire in an inning all season, but the Fisher Cats fell, 8-7.

New Hampshire continues their six-game road series with Altoona on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. The Fisher Cats return home to Delta Dental Stadium to play the Reading Fightin Phils (Philadelphia Phillies) from Tuesday, April 26 through Sunday, May 1. Tickets for the six-game homestand 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.