AKRON, OHIO (6/18/16) - The New Hampshire Fisher Cats stifled the Akron RubberDucks' bats, but their own hitters were even more conspicuously quiet in a 3-1 loss at Canal Park Saturday night.

New Hampshire (29-38) fell to a season-worst nine games below .500 with the loss. Akron (40-29) notched their 40th win of the season despite mustering only two hits against the Fisher Cats' pitching staff. Fisher Cats outfielder Dwight Smith, Jr. extended his hitting streak to 15 games in the first inning with a one-out single.

The Fisher Cats opened the scoring in the top of the first inning against Akron starting pitcher Nick Pasquale. Jason Leblebijian drew a one-out walk, and Dwight Smith, Jr. singled him to third base. With two outs, Rowdy Tellez poked a grounder to left, scoring Leblebijian and giving New Hampshire the 1-0 lead.

Akron evened the score in the bottom of the first against New Hampshire starter Luis Santos. Bradley Zimmer cracked a one-out double, and advanced to third on a Clint Frazier groundout. With Jeremy Lucas at the dish, Santos fired a wild pitch, allowing Zimmer to score and tying the ballgame at 1-1.

The RubberDucks took the lead in the bottom of the fifth against Fisher Cats reliever Murphy Smith. Ivan Castillo drew a leadoff walk, and advanced to second on a grounder by Todd Hankins. Zimmer dropped a sacrifice bunt that moved the runners to second and third. Frazier then brought Castillo home on a ground-out, putting Akron in front 2-1.

Akron doubled their lead against reliever Matt Dermody in the bottom of the seventh. Castillo led off with a chopper to third that hopped over Leblebijian. Dwight Smith overran the ball, and it rolled slowly to the fence. Castillo took advantage, racing around the bases for an inside-the-park homer to give Akron the 3-1 edge.

Santos took a no-decision, allowing one run on a hit and three walks in three innings; he fanned three. Murphy Smith took the loss, allowing an unearned run on two walks against two strikeouts over three innings. Dermody surrendered a run on one hit in two-thirds of an inning, with one strikeout registered. Danny Barnes fired 1.1 perfect innings, whiffing three.

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Posted 7/10/16