Fisher Cats drop season opener to Binghamton, 5-2

MANCHESTER, NH — The New Hampshire Fisher Cats, defending champions in the Eastern League, opened the 2019 season at home on Thursday night and fell to Binghamton, 5-2.Shortstop Kevin Smith nearly hit the first home run of the season for the Fisher Cats (0-1), carrying one off the wall in right center in the eighth inning, but hits were hard to come by on a windy night.Patrick Murphy (0-1) took the loss, allowing two earned runs in four innings. He struck out five, but walked three.

Key Performers:

• Catcher Alberto Mineo had New Hampshire’s first hit and run scored.
• Kevin Smith went 1-for-4 with a double.
• New Hampshire reliever Tayler Saucedo worked three shutout innings in relief of Murphy.

How It Happened:Binghamton’s Will Toffey walked to start the second inning, advancing on a groundout. After a single by Dario Pizzano, Barrett Barnes followed with an RBI single. Pizzano then scored on an error for a 2-0 lead.Patrick Mazeika doubled for the Rumble Ponies in the top of the third inning, then a pair of walks and a hit batter forced him in with the third run. The Fisher Cats scored a run with the help of a Binghamton error in the bottom of the third. Three singles by Alberto Mineo, Santiago Espinal and Josh Palacios loaded the bases with Mineo scoring on an error to cut the lead back to 3-1.New Hampshire cut the lead to one run without a hit in the bottom of the seventh inning. Kacy Clemenswalked, advanced to second on a wild pitch, took third on a groundout, and scored on an error to make it 3-2. Binghamton put two more on the board in the top of the eighth inning, taking advantage of a pair of New Hampshire errors. Jason Krizan delivered the key hit, a two-run single to put the Rumble Ponies up 3-2.

Notes:New Hampshire starter Patrick Murphy struck out the side in the top of the first inning. He finished with five strikeouts in his four innings of work…The April 4th tied for the earliest home start in Fisher Cats history…This was the third time Binghamton and New Hampshire have met on opening day, all in the past four years. The Rumble Ponies have won them all.Up Next: The Fisher Cats and Rumble Ponies will play again on Friday at 6:35 p.m. Scheduled starting pitchers are RHP Chris Mazza for Binghamton and RHP Hector Perez for New Hampshire. For ticket information, visit www.nhfishercats.com.