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June 07. 2012 11:29PM
Fisher Cats settle for split
MANCHESTER — They’ll take ’em any way they can get ’em.
If it takes four pitchers and nearly 23 hours to complete a nine-inning shutout, so be it.
Brett Cecil got the Fisher Cats started on Wednesday night and Ronald Uviedo picked up where he left off on Thursday night and the Fisher Cats closed out a 3-0 win over the Richmond Flying Squirrels at Northeast Delta Dental Stadium.
The Fisher Cats, though, ran into perhaps the toughest pitcher in the Eastern League in the second game of the night and were unable to make it a clean sweep.
Richmond scored three runs in the third inning and three more in the fourth — on a three-run homer by Joel Weeks — and right-hander Chris Heston held on for a 6-3 seven-inning win for the split.
Heston allowed seven hits and improved to 6-2, but his earned run average rose from 0.68 to 0.98 after New Hampshire rallied for all its runs with four of its hits in the bottom of the seventh.
He had given up as many as two earned runs once all season.
“He’s having a good year, but it shows he’s human,” said Fisher Cats manager Sal Fasano. “All these guys for the most part are working down in the zone and didn’t really make too many mistakes up. And when they did we actually got some hits on it.”
Catcher Sean Ochinko had two of the seven Fisher Cat hits to run his consecutive game hitting streak to an even dozen, a season-high for the team.
The Fisher Cats, who have struggled mightily at home, are now 9-21 for the season here. They are 22-36 overall.
Richmond, in for its only visit of the season, leaves town with a 28-32 record.
First baseman Mike McDade provided much of the first-game offense with a home run and a double. He had struck out in his first at-bat of the game on Wednesday night.
“He really had a great day,” Fasano said. “He’s had a lot of games like that where he’s carried us.”
McDade staked the Fisher Cats to a 2-0 lead through six innings.
The game resumed in the top of the fourth and with two outs in the bottom of the inning, he battled back from an 0-2 count to get it to 3-and-2 and then ripped a line shot over everything in right field for his 10th home run of the season.
In the sixth, also with two outs, his wall ball double just above the 400-foot mark in center field knocked in Brian Bocock, who had singled for a 2-0 lead.
The Fisher Cats ran it to 3-0 in the bottom of the seventh with yet another two-out run. After the first two New Hampshire batters in the inning struck out, John Tolisano doubled and Brian Jeroloman singled him in.
The Flying Squirrels threatened in the eighth and ninth, but relievers Sam Dyson and then Evan Englebrook, a 6-foot-8 right-hander, shut down the rallies.
A pair of walks in the ninth by Englebrook were the only ones given up by Fisher Cat pitchers in the game against seven strikeouts.
“The bullpen did a good job,” Fasano said.
Infielder Kevin Howard, who started at third base on Wednesday night, was called up to Las Vegas that night and was on his way to join Toronto’s Triple-A team first thing on Thursday morning. . . . First baseman/outfielder Gabo Jacobo was called up from Single-A Dunedin to take Howard’s spot on the roster. He played first base in the second game and had a seventh-inning single.
If it takes four pitchers and nearly 23 hours to complete a nine-inning shutout, so be it.
Brett Cecil got the Fisher Cats started on Wednesday night and Ronald Uviedo picked up where he left off on Thursday night and the Fisher Cats closed out a 3-0 win over the Richmond Flying Squirrels at Northeast Delta Dental Stadium.
The Fisher Cats, though, ran into perhaps the toughest pitcher in the Eastern League in the second game of the night and were unable to make it a clean sweep.
Richmond scored three runs in the third inning and three more in the fourth — on a three-run homer by Joel Weeks — and right-hander Chris Heston held on for a 6-3 seven-inning win for the split.
Heston allowed seven hits and improved to 6-2, but his earned run average rose from 0.68 to 0.98 after New Hampshire rallied for all its runs with four of its hits in the bottom of the seventh.
He had given up as many as two earned runs once all season.
“He’s having a good year, but it shows he’s human,” said Fisher Cats manager Sal Fasano. “All these guys for the most part are working down in the zone and didn’t really make too many mistakes up. And when they did we actually got some hits on it.”
Catcher Sean Ochinko had two of the seven Fisher Cat hits to run his consecutive game hitting streak to an even dozen, a season-high for the team.
The Fisher Cats, who have struggled mightily at home, are now 9-21 for the season here. They are 22-36 overall.
Richmond, in for its only visit of the season, leaves town with a 28-32 record.
First baseman Mike McDade provided much of the first-game offense with a home run and a double. He had struck out in his first at-bat of the game on Wednesday night.
“He really had a great day,” Fasano said. “He’s had a lot of games like that where he’s carried us.”
McDade staked the Fisher Cats to a 2-0 lead through six innings.
The game resumed in the top of the fourth and with two outs in the bottom of the inning, he battled back from an 0-2 count to get it to 3-and-2 and then ripped a line shot over everything in right field for his 10th home run of the season.
In the sixth, also with two outs, his wall ball double just above the 400-foot mark in center field knocked in Brian Bocock, who had singled for a 2-0 lead.
The Fisher Cats ran it to 3-0 in the bottom of the seventh with yet another two-out run. After the first two New Hampshire batters in the inning struck out, John Tolisano doubled and Brian Jeroloman singled him in.
The Flying Squirrels threatened in the eighth and ninth, but relievers Sam Dyson and then Evan Englebrook, a 6-foot-8 right-hander, shut down the rallies.
A pair of walks in the ninth by Englebrook were the only ones given up by Fisher Cat pitchers in the game against seven strikeouts.
“The bullpen did a good job,” Fasano said.
- - - - - - - -
Infielder Kevin Howard, who started at third base on Wednesday night, was called up to Las Vegas that night and was on his way to join Toronto’s Triple-A team first thing on Thursday morning. . . . First baseman/outfielder Gabo Jacobo was called up from Single-A Dunedin to take Howard’s spot on the roster. He played first base in the second game and had a seventh-inning single.
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