MANCHESTER — The Fisher Cats are well below .500, but it hasn’t prevented them from playing winning baseball of late.

They clinched their fourth straight series win Saturday night.

Yohan Pino threw just one pitch that cost him, and first baseman Sean Ochinko twice went yard as the Fisher Cats beat the Altoona Curve, 8-3, at Northeast Delta Dental Stadium.

“I just went up there and looked for fastballs like I normally do. Today I just put a couple good swings on balls,” said Ochinko, who went 4-for-4 in front of 5,082 fans, pacing the Fishers to their eighth win in 11 games.

Pino (8-7) won his third consecutive start, scattering five hits over five innings. Andrew Lambo’s first-inning, two-run homer that narrowly cleared the right-field wall was the only hit to do damage.

But Altoona’s two-run lead was short-lived.

Ryan Goins ripped a bases-loaded single to right, scoring Yorvit Torrealba and Ryan Schimpf. It was the team’s third hit of the inning against hard-throwing Brandon Cumpton (11-10).

The Fishers (52-74) took control in the third.

Goins slapped an opposite-field double into the left-field corner and later scored on a wild pitch.

Ochinko (three RBIs, two runs) padded the lead with a two-run homer to left. The shot scored Brian Van Kirk and gave the Fishers a 5-2 lead.

“They’re starting to play a lot better late in the season. It’s nice,” Fishers manager Sal Fasano said. “While everybody else is tired, it looks like we’re getting stronger.”

In the top half of the inning, failure to communicate with runners at first and second led to good fortune for the Fishers. A pop-up to shallow center fell between second baseman John Tolisano and centerfielder Jake Marisnick.

Expecting the ball to be caught, the runners didn’t move. Right fielder Brad Glenn scooped the ball and fired to Goins for the force at second. Goins turned and threw to Schimpf, who applied the inning-ending tag at third.

In the fifth, Van Kirk legged out an RBI infield single. Altoona’s Lambo hit his second blast in the seventh, but the shot was answered by Tolisano and Ochinko, who each homered later in the frame.

The Fishers have not swept a series this season. That could change today against the Curve (59-66), who’ll face Toronto’s Brandon Morrow, making his final rehab start (oblique).

“Whether we sweep or not, it’s really secondary,” Fasano said. “We just need to make sure Brandon is throwing the ball well so he can go back to the big leagues.”

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Marc Thaler may be reached at mthaler@unionleader.com.