Stanifer Duels Lagrange in Double-A Debut
EL New Hampshire Fisher Cats

Stanifer Duels Lagrange in Double-A Debut

Published on September 5, 2025 under Eastern League (EL)
New Hampshire Fisher Cats News Release


The New Hampshire Fisher Cats (21-37, 50-77) and the Somerset Patriots (31-28, 66-62) are set for a 6:35 PM EDT first pitch at TD Bank Ballpark. Friday night's game features a matchup between Toronto's No. 6 prospect Gage Stanifer (0-0, -.--) and the Yankees' No. 2 prospect Carlos Lagrange (5-6, 3.74 ERA) in the fourth game of the series (MLB Pipeline).

LAST NIGHT

The Fisher Cats fell to the Patriots in a rain-shortened contest on Thursday night, 4-1. Thursday night's game started at 8:43 PM after a 2-hour, 8-minute delay, and the two teams played 4-1/2 innings before the game was ultimately called due to rain.

New Hampshire's lone run came in to score in the top of the fifth inning after Ryan McCarty led off with his second double of the game. Gabriel Martinez moved McCarty to third, allowing Robert Brooks to plate McCarty on a sacrifice fly to center field and make it 4-1.

Somerset scored runs in three of the first four innings as George Lombard Jr. went deep and Garrett Martin tripled in a run in the bottom of the third inning to extend the Pats' lead to 4-0.

Fisher Cats righty Rafael Sánchez (L, 2-8) got the start and went three innings, allowing four runs, three earned, on five hits with two walks and two strikeouts. Reliever Pat Gallagher pitched a scoreless bottom of the fourth inning with two strikeouts.

Somerset sent just one pitcher to the mound on Thursday night as Ben Hess (W, 3-1) tallied seven strikeouts and was tagged for one run over five innings pitched.

Thursday was New Hampshire's 10th consecutive loss and the Fisher Cats fell to 2-19 against the Patriots this season.

PITCHING MATCHUP

Making his first career Double-A start, Gage Stanifer (0-0, -.--) gets the ball for New Hampshire on Friday night. Toronto's No. 6 prospect becomes the fourth top 10 Blue Jays' pitching prospect to make his way to New Hampshire this season, joining Trey Yesavage (TOR No. 1), Juaron Watts-Brown (BAL No. 13) and Khal Stephen (CLE No. 7), according to MLB Pipeline. Watts-Brown was dealt to Baltimore with cash for reliever Seranthony Dominguez and Stephen was traded one-for-one to the Guardians for Shane Bieber at this year's trade deadline. Stanifer stifled the Single-A level to start his third season of professional baseball, allowing just two earned runs across 26 innings pitched and seven relief appearances. The right-hander piggybacked off Yesavage until Toronto's No. 1 prospect (MLB Pipeline) was called up to Double-A New Hampshire on June 12. Stanifer was called up to High-A Vancouver on May 20 and went on to collect 115 strikeouts over 76 innings pitched and 18 total appearances for the Canadians. Stanifer is second to Yesavage for the most strikeouts in Toronto's system this year with 153. His 153 punchouts are tied for fourth with Somerset's Carlos Lagrange in minor league baseball. Stanifer was dominant in August as he fired a 1.69 earned run average and 42 strikeouts to 11 walks over 32 innings pitched. He departed Vancouver as the team-leader in strikeouts and topped all of High-A with 13.62 strikeouts per nine innings pitched.

Stanifer squares off with the Yankees' top pitching prospect Carlos Lagrange (5-6, 3.74 ERA) on Friday night. Lagrange has already faced New Hampshire three times this year and has held the Fisher Cats to two runs and five hits over 15-2/3 innings. Somerset has captured the win in each of the three Lagrange starts against New Hampshire as the righty is 2-0 with a 1.15 earned run average and 27 strikeouts to seven walks. The 22-year-old out of Bayaguana, Dominican Republic, was signed by the Yankees in February of 2022. Now in his fourth season of professional baseball, Lagrange received the promotion to Double-A Somerset on June 3, after tallying 64 strikeouts across 41-2/3 innings with High-A Hudson Valley. Lagrange (No. 81) is one of four Yankees prospects in MLB's top 100, along with George Lombard Jr. (No. 25), Cam Schlittler (No. 90) and Spencer Jones (No. 91), per MLB Pipeline. Lagrange boasts a fastball that can ramp up to 100-plus mph, allowing him to collect the fourth-most strikeouts in minor league baseball this season. While his fastball packs a punch, Lagrange has struggled with inconsistency throughout his first 14 appearances at the Double-A level. Lagrange walked 21 batters over 26-2/3 innings in August, including six free passes issued in his last time out on August 30 in Binghamton. Out of six starts in August, Lagrange completed at least five innings in two of them, with at least one walk and one run allowed in each outing. Lagrange collected a career high 12 strikeouts in a 5-1 win over New Hampshire on June 19 in Manchester, and Friday night will be his fourth go against the Fisher Cats this season.

THIS DAY IN FISHER CATS HISTORY

September 5, 2018- The Fisher Cats opened the playoffs with an 8-0 win over the Trenton Thunder at Delta Dental Stadium. T.J. Zeuch, despite giving up eight hits, did not allow a run in his six innings for the win. The Fisher Cats scored three in the sixth and tacked on five in the eighth inning. Jon Berti, Bo Bichette and Cavan Biggio each finished two runs batted in. The win started New Hampshire on its way to a perfect postseason with three-game sweeps of Trenton and Akron.

WHAT'S NEXT?

New Hampshire and Somerset open their weekend slate of games with another 6:35 PM EDT first pitch on Friday night. Fisher Cats righty Alex Amalfi (5-8, 4.81 ERA) gets the ball against Patriots left-hander Brock Selvidge (2-6, 5.23 ERA).

Check out the New Hampshire Fisher Cats Statistics

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