Yard Goats outfielder Yonathan Daza had two hits and one RBI in Saturday night’s loss to the Fisher Cats at Dunkin’ Donuts Park.
HARTFORD, April 8 – There were some familiar names in the lineup for the Eastern League’s New Hampshire Fisher Cats this weekend at Dunkin’ Donuts Park in downtown Hartford — Biggio. Guerrero. Bichette.
Each had their father play Major League Baseball. Craig Biggio of the Houston Astros is a Hall of Fame shortstop. Vladmir Guerrero, an outfielder with the Montreal Expos and Anaheim Angels, will be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame this summer. Dante Bichette was a four-time All-Star outfielder who played in the major leagues for 13 seasons.
New Hampshire’s Cavan Biggio, Vladmir Guerrero, Jr., and Bo Bichette made big plays this weekend as the visiting Fisher Cats swept the Yard Goats with a 4-1 victory on Saturday night and a 4-2 decision on Sunday afternoon.
New Hampshire swept the four-game series from Hartford – the worst start in the team’s brief three-year history and the worst start in franchise history since the New Britain Rock Cats began the 2010 season with seven straight losses.
On Sunday, a pair of long home runs from Cavan Biggio and Vladimir Guerrero, Jr., helped New Hampshire in a 4-2 win over the Yard Goats in front of 4,205 fans. Biggio’s two-run home run, which cleared the fence behind the last row of seats in the upper deck in right center, snapped a scoreless tie in the seventh inning. An RBI single from teammate Juan Kelly increased the lead to 3-0.
Hartford (0-4) cut the lead to one run, 3-2, on a two-run double to dead center field from Omar Carrizales in the bottom of the seventh. But in the eighth, Guerrero blasted a home run that cleared the back wall of Dunkin’ Donuts Park in left center for a big insurance run.
New Hampshire (4-0), the Double A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays, received good pitching throughout the series. In the first four games of the year, Hartford hitters struck out 44 times and scored just six runs. On Sunday, starting pitcher Sean Reid-Foley gave up just one hit over six innings – a first inning bunt single from Garrett Hampson – and struck out seven. The Yard Goats struck out 10 times on Sunday.
Hartford pitcher Peter Lambert, making his first start for the Yard Goats, tossed six scoreless innings, scattering five hits and striking out five. The Yard Goats infield turned three double plays behind Lambert.
On Saturday night, Bichette had a two-run double in the third inning while Guerrero had a RBI double. Biggio had one hit as New Hampshire had eight hits in a 4-1 victory.
New Hampshire pitcher Nick Tepesch, who has made 44 major league starts with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Texas, Minnesota and Toronto, pitched six innings and struck out six to earn the win. He allowed just one run and three hits. Craig Breslow, the 37-year-old reliever from New Haven with 12 years of major league experience, got the final two outs of the game to secure the win for New Hampshire.
Hartford scored its only run in the third inning on a double by Ryan Metzler and an RBI-single by Yonathan Daza, who had two hits.
Still looking for their first win, Hartford, the Double A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies, returns to action on Monday night when they host the Richmond Flying Squirrels, the Double A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants, beginning at 7:05 p.m. at Dunkin’ Donuts Park. It is the first game of a three-game series.
New Hampshire 4, Hartford 2
At Hartford
New Hampshire (4-0) 000 000 310 — 4-10-2
Hartford (0-4) 000 000 200 — 2-5-2
Sean Reid Foley, Dusty Issacs (7), Andrew Case (8) and Max Pentecost; Peter Lambert, Logan Cozart (7), Mas Schuh (9) and Dom Nunez; WP: Foley (1-0); LP: Cozart (0-1); H: Issacs 1; Save: Case 1; 2B: Omar Carrizales (H); Connor Panas (NH); HR: Cavan Biggo (NH), Vladmir Guerrero, Jr. (NH); A – 4205
New Hampshire 4, Hartford 1
At Hartford
New Hampshire (3-0) 002 110 000 – 4-8-1
Hartford (0-3) 001 000 000 – 1-5-0
Nick Tepesch, Jose Fernandez (7), Justin Shafer (8), Craig Breslow (9) and Patrick Cantwell; Jesus Tinoco, Scott Griggs (5), Mitch Horacek (6), Marc Magliaro (8) and Dom Nunez; WP: Tepesch (1-0); LP: Tinoco (0-1): Save: Breslow 1; 2B: Cavan Biggio (NH), Bo Bichette (NH), Vladmir Guerrero, Jr. (NH); Jonathan Davis (NH); Ryan Metzler (H), Sam Hilliard (NH); A- 4328
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