Long ball burns Fisher Cats in third straight loss

BOWIE, M.D — The New Hampshire Fisher Cats, the Double-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays, lost their third straight game in a 6-1 defeat to the Bowie Baysox on Thursday night at Prince George’s Stadium.

New Hampshire (24-33, 59-66) scored its lone run of the game in the third on a Will Robertson bloop RBI single to left. The base hit extended his hit streak to 11 games, matching Damiano Palmegiani for the longest hit streak by a Fisher Cat this season. The 25-year-old Robertson is hitting .309 in the second half.

Bowie (33-27, 64-65) hit three solo homers in the game, all off starting right-hander Chad Dallas (7-3). Billy Cook launched his first of two homers in the third to tie the score 1-1. The Baysox took the lead in the fifth on back-to-back home runs by Gilbert Lara and Cook.

The Blue Jays No. 14 prospect went six innings, allowing three runs on seven hits and two walks with four strikeouts, receiving the loss. The 23-year-old has gone six or more innings in three of his last four starts.

Bowie added three more runs in the seventh and eighth off right-hander Fitz Stadler to put the game away.

Baysox right-hander Houston Roth (7-3) earned the win after 3.1 shutout and hitless innings of relief with two strikeouts over one walk. Right-hander Kade Strowd closed out the game with four strikeouts out of six batters faced.

Bryce Arnold made his Double-A debut and collected his first two hits with a 2-for-4 night at the plate. The 22-year-old signed with the Blue Jays as an undrafted free agent on July 20 and was promoted from Single-A Dunedin on Thursday.

The Fisher Cats continue the second half of their 12-game road trip against the Bowie Baysox tomorrow at 7:05 pm. RHP Luis Quinones (4-4, 5.07 ERA) will get the start for New Hampshire against RHP Connor Gillispie (7-4, 3.75 ERA) for Bowie.