MANCHESTER, N.H. — Ryan Pope gave up five runs in the second inning, putting the Thunder in a hole from which they would never recover during a 5-4 loss yesterday to the New Hampshire Fisher Cats last night at Merchantsauto.com Stadium.
After a scoreless first inning, Pope, who’d performed ably in his first two starts, hit a rough patch.
Eric Thames and Adam Calderone opened with a single and double, producing the opening tally. Two outs later, catcher Brian Jeroloman doubled home Calderone with the second run.
The next man, Darin Mastroianni, singled, and Callix Crabbe connected on a three-run home run that completed the damage.
The Thunder’s offense did all it could, but in the end came up a run short.
In the fourth, catcher Austin Romine — who was 3-for-5 on the evening — singled and stole second before being driven in on Reid Gorecki’s single.
The Thunder got two more in the fifth, when designated hitter Damon Sublett’s double to right brought home Romine and Laird.
In the sixth, with starter Kyle Drabek out of the game, the Thunder tacked on one more against Bubbie Buzachero when Romine’s single brought home Austin Krum from second.
From there, New Hampshire relievers Trystan Magnuson and Daniel Farquhar silenced Trenton’s bats and sealed the home side’s series-opening victory.
Jeremy Bleich matches up against Zach Stewart tonight in the second game of the series. Game time is 6:35 p.m.