Perez Rematches with Rodriguez-Cruz in Sunday Series Finale
EL New Hampshire Fisher Cats

Perez Rematches with Rodriguez-Cruz in Sunday Series Finale

Published on September 7, 2025 under Eastern League (EL)
New Hampshire Fisher Cats News Release


The New Hampshire Fisher Cats (21-40, 50-80) and the Somerset Patriots (34-28, 69-62) round out their six-game series with a 1:05 PM EDT first pitch at TD Bank Ballpark on Sunday afternoon. Sunday features a rematch between Toronto's No. 11 prospect Fernando Perez (0-2, 1.71) and the Yankees' No. 5 prospect Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz (3-3, 2.81 ERA) from Tuesday night's 1-0 contest (MLB Pipeline).

LAST NIGHT

The Fisher Cats dropped their 12th game in a row and fifth game to the Patriots this week, 3-2, on a soggy Saturday night. Somerset's Garrett Martin drove in the tying run and Jake Gatewood plated the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning, toppling the Fisher Cats in walk-off fashion.

Fisher Cats starter Alex Amalfi matched a career high with seven strikeouts over five one-run innings before three New Hampshire arms completed the next three frames. Relievers Devereaux Harrison and Kai Peterson struck out the side in the bottom of the sixth and seventh innings, respectively. Righty Pat Gallagher (L, 2-3) pitched a scoreless bottom of the eighth before allowing two runs in the bottom of the ninth without recording an out.

Offensively, New Hampshire was powered by Charles McAdoo, Peyton Williams and Gabriel Martinez, who each notched multi-hit games. McAdoo went 3-for-5 for his 22nd multi-hit game and second three-hit effort of the season. Williams knocked his first hit since July 6 in Portland and went 2-for-4. Martinez drove in a run and finished 2-for-3, extending his hit streak to seven games.

New Hampshire's tallies were in the top of the sixth inning after opening the frame with three consecutive hits. Je'Von Ward and Ryan McCarty singled to set up Williams' run-scoring single. Cade Doughty advanced the runners to second and third as Martinez's sacrifice fly gave New Hampshire a 2-1 lead.

PITCHING MATCHUP

Fernando Perez makes his second start of the week and fifth since joining New Hampshire on August 12. The righty fired seven scoreless innings and allowed three hits with four strikeouts for his second consecutive quality start on Tuesday night. Perez was coming off his first Double-A quality start with six, two-hit, scoreless innings with one walk and five strikeouts. He started the year with High-A Vancouver and went 6-4 with a 3.05 earned run average across 20 starts and 94-1/3 innings for the Canadians. The Rivas, Nicaragua native, earned Northwest League Pitcher of the Week honors with 13 strikeouts over 11 innings pitched from July 28 to August 3. Perez signed a free agent deal with Toronto in January of 2022 and is currently ranked the No. 11 prospect in Toronto's system. Two years after signing, Perez represented the Blue Jays in the MLB Futures Game in Arlington, Texas, becoming the second Nicaraguan to play in a Futures Game.

Sunday features a rematch of Tuesday night's pitching matchup as Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz climbs the hill for Somerset. The Yankees' No. 5 prospect (MLB Pipeline) paced Perez with six scoreless and seven strikeouts in Somerset's 1-0 win on Tuesday night. The righty made his Double-A debut against New Hampshire on July 12 in Somerset, where he surrendered six runs, three earned on nine hits with three punchouts over six innings pitched. Rodriguez-Cruz pitched to a 2-2 record with a 3.76 earned run average with 36 strikeouts to 11 walks over 26-1/3 innings pitched in August. Rodriguez-Cruz is now second in the Yankees' system and third amongst all minor league pitchers with 158 strikeouts this season. He piled on 99 strikeouts across 83-2/3 innings for High-A Hudson Valley to start the year and has fanned 59 batters over 51-1/3 innings as a member of the Patriots. Tuesday was Rodriguez-Cruz's first start in September and second against the Fisher Cats this season.

THIS DAY IN FISHER CATS HISTORY

September 7, 2018 - The Fisher Cats finished off the Northeast Division Championship series with a 5-1 win over the Trenton Thunder at ARM & HAMMER Park. A wild pitch scored the first run and Cavan Biggio ripped a two-run single later in the third inning for a 3-0 lead. Biggio added an RBI single in the seventh. Jordan Romano allowed one unearned run in 5.2 innings pitched. The start of the game was delayed almost four hours, with the first pitch delivered at 10:58 PM. The final out was recorded at 1:32 AM. New Hampshire would go on to sweep Akron and win the third title in team history, and still the most recent.

WHAT'S NEXT?

The Fisher Cats return to the Granite State for their final homestand of the 2025 campaign. New Hampshire welcomes Chesapeake for a six-game set starting at 6:35 PM EDT at Delta Dental Stadium on Tuesday night.

Check out the New Hampshire Fisher Cats Statistics

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