Connect with us

Eastern League

Fans pour into new Yard Goats stadium and are still waiting for first victory

Hartford’s Dillon Thomas had a triple, home run and two RBI in Saturday’s loss to New Hampshire at Dunkin’ Donuts Park.

HARTFORD, April 15 – More than 18,000 fans have come to Dunkin’ Donuts Park over the past three days to see the Hartford Yard Goats play in their new 6,000-seat stadium.

The hometown fans have yet to see a win. The visiting New Hampshire Fisher Cats sent 10 men to the plate in the second inning and scored five runs to take control of the game and earn an 8-5 victory to sweep a three-game series with the Yard Goats in front of 5,915 fans.

Hartford (3-7) has lost four straight. Raffy Lopez had a two-run triple in the second inning for the Fisher Cats while teammate Jonathan Davis had a RBI single while teammate Tim Lopes and Anthony Alford each had RBI doubles off Hartford starter Luis Niebla (0-2).

Dillon Thomas had an opposite field, two-run home run to left center in the second inning to cut the Fisher Cat lead to three runs, 5-2. Dom Nunez blasted a home run into the upper deck in right field to reduce the New Hampshire lead to 5-3.

A triple from Thomas and a single from Max White in the eighth inning allowed Hartford to once again cut the lead to two runs, 7-5. But that is as close as the Yard Goats would get. The Cats are now 5-4 and have won four straight games.

Drew Weeks, Thomas and White had six of Hartford’s nine hits. Weeks was 2-for-5 with a double while Thomas was 2-for-5 with a triple, home run and two RBI. White was 2-for-3 with a double and one RBI.

On Friday night, New Hampshire scored four runs in the fourth inning to snap a 2-2 tie and earn an 11-7 decision before a sellout crowd of 6,065. Ryan McMahon’s two-run home run in the first inning was the first HR by a Hartford player in the new stadium. Weeks had a two-run home run in the seventh inning.

The Yard Goats are off Sunday and resume play on Monday with a three-game series in Hartford against Harrisburg. Right-handed pitcher Ryan Castellani will start the game for the Yard Goats. Game time is 7:05 p.m. and it will be broadcast on WPOP-AM (1410).

Since 2009, the Collinsville Press has been providing award-winning coverage of sports and news in the Farmington Valley and across Connecticut.

Click to comment

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

Leave a Reply

More in Eastern League