EL1 Harrisburg Senators

Soto Shines in Debut as Sens Walk-Off 9-8 over New Hampshire

Published on May 11, 2018 under Eastern League (EL1)
Harrisburg Senators News Release


The Harrisburg Senators walked-off against the New Hampshire Fisher Cats 9-8 Thursday night at FNB Field. Juan Soto went 2-4 with a home run and four RBI in his Double-A debut and the Senators scored the winning run on an error in the bottom of the tenth.

The Senators jumped to an early lead with four runs in the first inning against New Hampshire starter Francisco Rios. Following a walk by Daniel Johnson and single by Kelvin Gutierrez, Juan Soto, in his first Double-A at-bat, ripped a double to right center to plate both runners. After the next two batters walked to load the bases, Taylor Gushue hit a sacrifice fly to right. The next batter, Drew Ward, lined an RBI single to right to put the Senators ahead 4-0.

The Senators added to the lead in the second when Soto hammered a 1-0 pitch from Rios into the left field stands for his first Double-A home run. The home run was Soto's 13th overall across three levels this season, which ties him for the lead in Minor League Baseball.

Soto finished 2-4 with a walk and four RBI in his Senators debut.

"(Soto) gave us a big spark," Senators manager Matt LeCroy said. "He had solid at-bats, stayed in the strike zone, took advantage of balls up in the strike zone and came up big early. I saw a lot of good things tonight offensively."

"(Soto's) got a different sound when he hits. He's mature. That's going to give him a lot of opportunities to succeed."

With the Senators ahead 6-0, New Hampshire plated a pair of runs off Senators starter Jaron Long in the third on RBI singles from Johnathan Davis and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

The Fisher Cats cut the lead to one with three runs in an eight-batter fifth. Connor Panas drove in the first run with a run-scoring single and three-batters later Andrew Guillot plated a pair with a single to right.

Long allowed five runs on 11 hits across five innings while Rios lasted just one and two-thirds innings and surrendered six runs on five hits.

The Senators plated single runs in the next two frames to pad the advantage. Osvaldo Abreu hit a sacrifice fly in the fifth and in the sixth, Yadiel Hernandez knocked his seventh home run of the season to give the Senators an 8-5 lead.

New Hampshire did not score again until the ninth when they came back to tie the game. Ramirez drove in the first run with an RBI single. Three batters later, with the Fisher Cats down to their final out, pinch-hitter Cavan Biggio hit a two-run home run to center to tie the game at 8-8.

The game remained tied until the bottom of the tenth. With the free-runner, Kelvin Gutierrez, at third after advancing on a deep fly ball by Soto, Stephen Perez hit a hard groundball that was misplayed by first baseman Juan Kelly, which allowed the winning run to score.

"We didn't pitch well tonight and we let (New Hampshire) back in the game but we just kept adding, adding and adding," LeCroy said. "We fell in the ninth inning, which is going to happen from time to time, but I'm really proud at the end that we were able to get it done late."

Derek Self (1-0) earned the win after pitching a perfect top of the tenth without allowing the free-runner to score. Justin Shafer (1-2) took the loss after surrendering the lone unearned run in the tenth.

The Senators and Fisher Cats play game two of the series Friday night. Luis Reyes starts for the Senators against New Hampshire starter Jordan Romano. First pitch is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at FNB Field.

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Eastern League Stories from May 11, 2018


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.

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