Blue Jays Double-A affiliate wins Eastern League title

Conor Roche

Blue Jays Double-A affiliate wins Eastern League title image

This season wasn't a good one for the Toronto Blue Jays.

But it ended up being a good one for their Double-A affiliate, the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, as they won the Eastern League title on Friday night. 

 

 

The Fisher Cats completed their three-game sweep of the Akron RubberDucks, winning 8-5 in front of their home crowd.

Catcher Patrick Cantwell started the scoring, hitting a double in the second inning that brough home Cavan Biggio to give New Hampshire a 1-0 lead. After Cantwell advanced to third, Joshua Palacios knocked him in on a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0. 

The RubberDucks evened up the score in the third inning when Tyler Krieger knocked in two runs on a double off Fisher Cats starter Jordan Romano.

But that was the closest the RubberDucks came to taking the lead for the remainder of the game. The Fisher Cats took the lead back in the third as a RubberDucks error and a sacrifice fly scored two runs, giving the Fisher Cats a 4-2 lead. 

The Fisher Cats added another two runs in the fourth when Jon Berti hit a two-run single to extend the lead to 6-2. 

Fisher Cats reliever Danny Young gave up a run in the fifth inning, but Biggio made up for it with hit a solo home run to make it 7-3, Fisher Cats, through five innings. Harold Ramirez gave the Fisher Cats another run in the six inning when he hit a double to knock in Jon Berti. 

The RubberDucks tacked in a run in the seventh and ninth innings, but it was too little, too late as closer Travis Bergen prevented any further damage, securing the game, series and championship.

The 2018 season has been an eventful one for the Fisher Cats. The year started with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. mashing the ball, hitting .402 with 14 home runs in 61 games before he was called up to Triple-A. 

MORE: Blue Jays' Vladimir Guerrero Jr. named top minor league hitter of 2018

Three of the Blue Jays' top 20 prospects, according to MLB Pipeline, were on the Fisher Cats roster for the playoffs. Bo Bichette (No. 2), Cavan Biggio (No. 9) and T.J. Zeuch (No. 15).

This is the New Hampshire fourth Eastern League title and their first in seven seasons.

Conor Roche