Fisher Cats flirt with shutout in Friday night victory
The New Hampshire Fisher Cats, the Double-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays, flirted with a shutout in a 7-1 victory over the Reading Fightin’ Phils on Friday night at FirstEnergy Stadium.
Reading, Penn. – The New Hampshire Fisher Cats, the Double-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays, flirted with a shutout in a 7-1 victory over the Reading Fightin’ Phils on Friday night at FirstEnergy Stadium.
Starting right-hander Chad Dallas (7-2) threw seven shutout innings, allowed three hits, no walks and equaled his career-high with 11 strikeouts to earn the win. The last time the Blue Jays No. 14 prospect struck out 11 batters in a game was on April 11 vs Tri-City while with High-A Vancouver in his first start of the season. The 23-year-old has punched out 10 or more Reading hitters in his last two starts against the Fightin’ Phils.
Devonte Brown drove in a game-high three RBI within the first five innings with an RBI double in the third, his first Double-A RBI, before hitting a two-run homer to left-center in the fifth for his first Double-A homer. Brown was promoted from High-A Vancouver on Tuesday.
New Hampshire (22-30, 57-63) broke the game open in the eighth with four runs across on five hits. Will Robertson added to the lead with an opposite-field RBI single to bring home Alan Roden. Robertson extended his hit streak to seven games, matching his season-long, while Roden collected a game-high three hits on the night.
One batter later, Trevor Schwecke tripled in a pair with a fly ball to center field, his first triple of the season. Phil Clarke brought home Schwecke with an RBI single to give New Hampshire its largest lead of the game 7-0 after the eighth inning.
T.J. Brock threw a scoreless eighth with two strikeouts before Reading (26-29, 54-69) eventually scored its first run of the game on a sac-fly by Rixon Wingrove off Adrian Hernandez. Hernandez ended the night by punching out his second batter of the ninth in Casey Martin.
The Fisher Cats continue their 12-game road trip and their six-game series against the Reading Fightin’ Phils tomorrow at 6:45 pm. RHP Luis Quinones (4-4, 5.02 ERA) will get the start for New Hampshire against LHP David Parkinson (8-5, 3.74 ERA) for Reading.
