TRENTON, NJ – Jake Cave’s sacrifice fly to left field in the bottom of the 13th inning capped off a 3-2 victory over the New Hampshire Fisher Cats on Monday night at ARM & HAMMER Park.
Jose Rosario (3-for-5, 2B, BB, SB, R) led off the penultimate inning with a double down the left field line and advanced to third on Danny Oh’s bunt single. Cave then fought off a number of tough pitches from New Hampshire reliever Jimmy Cordero before finally driving a ball to deep left to score Rosario for the sixth walk-off win of the season for the Thunder.
The Thunder and Fisher Cats went to extras when the visitors scratched out a run against 2009 American League Rookie of the Year, Andrew Bailey, in the top of the eighth inning. Dalton Pompey tripled to leadoff the inning and later scored on a wild pitch to tie the game at two. Bailey, who was making his Thunder debut, pitched 1.1 innings and surrendered one hit, one walk and struck out two.
Neither team could ride a quality outing from their starting pitcher to victory as both Eric Ruth (6 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 3 K) and Taylor Cole (7 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 7 K) pitched 6.1 innings and took a no-decision. Connor Mullee threw four innings of relief to earn his second win of the season.
Greg Bird knocked his fifth home run of the year with a solo shot in the fifth inning. Cave, Bird, Rosario and Mark Payton each recorded multi-hit games for the Thunder, each starter – except for Taylor Dugas – had a hit on Monday night
With the win, and a split of the doubleheader played by the New Britain Rock Cats, the Thunder are tied for first place in the Eastern League’s East division and hold a 1.5 game lead in the Wild Card.
Your Thunder will begin a four-game series with the Altoona Curve (Pittsburgh Pirates) on Tuesday night at 7pm. The first 1,000 fans through the gate will receive the latest issue of Yankees Magazine, presented by the New York Yankees, and all fans can take advantage of Super Value Tuesday with Kids Eat Free and $1 hot dogs, courtesy of Dietz and Watson. Tickets can be ordered online at Trentonthunder.com/tickets or by phone at 609-394-3300.
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