EL1 New Hampshire Fisher Cats

Burns Goes Deep in 7-1 Loss

Published on August 23, 2014 under Eastern League (EL1)
New Hampshire Fisher Cats News Release


MANCHESTER, N.H. - Andy Burns hit his second home run this week, but the Fisher Cats couldn't overcome four Sea Dogs home runs in a 7-1 loss on Saturday night. The defeat is the Fisher Cats' (63-69) third straight overall, and leaves them in need of a victory to avoid a sweep to the Sea Dogs (83-50) on Sunday afternoon.

Portland scored the game's first run with the first of their homers in the second inning. After homering with two outs in the second inning on Friday, Stefan Welch did the same on Saturday to give Portland a 1-0 lead. Three straight singles against starter Austin Bibens-Dirkx followed to build Portland's lead to 2-0 after two.

Keury De La Cruz homered with one out in the third to make it 3-0 in favor of the Sea Dogs. In the fifth, Sean Coyle's lead-off homer put Portland up 4-0 before Bibens-Dirkx left the game responsible for four runs over four-plus innings.

Brian Johnson (W; 10-2) made those home runs work in his favor as the lefty improved to 10-2 on the season with his third win against the Fisher Cats in 2014. He allowed just one hit - Burns' home in the sixth - over seven strong innings. The lefty struck out ten, walked two, and lowered his league-best ERA to 1.83.

Burns was the only Fisher Cat to reach with a hit as Portland pitchers combined to strike out 15 hitters. Burns finished the game with two walks and his team-leading 14th home run. Melky Mesa was the only other Fisher Cat to reach base with a fourth-inning walk.

Mike Miller homered in the eighth for Portland to cap the scoring with his second Double-A long ball.

The teams will now meet for the final time this season on Sunday afternoon at 1:35 p.m. The first 1,000 fans will receive a Ted Williams Bobblehead courtesy of Manchester Community College. After the game, all kids can run the bases thanks to the Buyers Beware campaign. Tickets are available by visiting www.nhfishercats.com, stopping by the Fisher Cats ticket office, or by calling (603) 641-2005.

The pitching match-up on Sunday calls for RHP Mike Lee (2-1, 2.50) to face his former team. RHP Luis Diaz (3-3, 4.21) will start for the Sea Dogs. Radio coverage begins with Tom Gauthier and Dick Lutsk at 1:15 p.m. on WGIR 610 AM and www.nhfishercats.com.

Check out the New Hampshire Fisher Cats Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Eastern League Stories from August 23, 2014


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central