ERIE, PA - The Erie SeaWolves (33-16, 69-48) fell short in a pitchers' duel on Friday night at UPMC Park against the New Hampshire Fisher Cats (20-29, 54-62). The Fisher Cats plated three runs in the top of the ninth to break a 1-1 tie and Erie could only manage one in the bottom of the ninth in a 4-2 loss.
It didn't look like a pitchers' duel early as Erie started the night hot at the plate. The bottom of the first began with two consecutive lineouts before Peyton Graham doubled on a sharp fly ball to left field. Thayron Liranzo pushed across the first run of the game with a line drive to center field to put the SeaWolves up 1-0.
SeaWolves starter Max Alba was strong through the first three innings. The righty allowed just one hit and faced the minimum the first time through the order after he picked off JR Freethy with two outs in the third.
The New Hampshire bats found some life in the fourth. Eric Snow led the inning off with a double and Dub Gleed doubled again with one out to even the score at one.
Alba's line was clean the rest of the night. The 27-year-old finished with six innings pitched, four hits, only one run allowed and five strikeouts. It's the third consecutive start Alba has completed more than five innings, and his first time finishing six innings all season.
Each pitching staff took over and dominated until the ninth inning. Zane Barnhart fired two scoreless innings with four strikeouts for the SeaWolves. Gage Stanifer covered the sixth and seventh without allowing a run for the Fisher Cats while reliever Aaron Munson took care of a scoreless eighth inning on the mound for New Hampshire.
Moises Rodriguez ran into some trouble in his second appearance back from the Injured List for the SeaWolves. A leadoff walk was followed with back-to-back soft singles to load the bases with no one out. Rodriguez struck out Tucker Toman after a mound visit from pitching coach Nick Green. Carter Cunningham lifted a sacrifice fly to left field to break the deadlock and give New Hampshire the lead. After Rodriguez got within a strike of ending the inning, Cutter Coffey followed with a two-RBI single to make it 4-1 Fisher Cats.
Erie made one final push in the bottom of the ninth. Woody Hadeen crushed his first home run of the season to shorten the lead to 4-2, but Fisher Cats reliever Kelena Sauer retired the next three SeaWolves in order to finish the game.
Erie sends Kenny Serwa to the mound on Saturday evening against Jackson Wentworth. First pitch is at 6:05 PM.
Single-game tickets, suites, picnics, The Club by Synchrony events, and Bud Light Party Deck groups are now available by visiting SeaWolves.com, calling 814-456-1300, or visiting the UPMC Park Box Office in person.