Yoan Moncada not only can hit a baseball far, he also works the count, refusing to chase bad pitches.
Moncada did all that Tuesday night. Besides walking four times, he launched a three-run homer to lead the Portland Sea Dogs to an 8-2 victory over the New Hampshire Fisher Cats before 4,869 at Hadlock Field.
Jake Romanski joined in the offense with a 3-for-4 night, with two RBI and a double.
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WHO: New Hampshire Fisher Cats (Shane Dawson 9-4) at Portland Sea Dogs (Kevin McAvoy 8-7)
WHEN: 6 p.m. Wednesday
Jalen Beeks (5-3) got the win with five innings of work (five hits, two runs).
New Hampshire took a 2-0 lead in the first but Beeks rebounded, and his teammates more than backed him up.
Moncada worked the count full in each of his walks, including leading off the bottom of the first.
“I don’t chase,” Moncada said.
Those are words that hitting coach Jon Nunnally loves to hear.
“I like the walks,” Nunnally said. “Shows some patience. Shows some discipline, laying off (bad) pitches.
“The more he can do that, the more he will get pitches where he can do damage.”
In the first, Moncada scored on Nate Freiman’s double, closing the score to 2-1.
In the second, Moncada did the damage, giving Portland the lead. After singles by Cole Sturgeon and Tzu-Wei Lin, Moncada came up with two outs and worked a 2-1 count against Jeremy Gabryszwski (7-11).
Gabryszwski delivered a 93 mph fastball on the lower half of the strike zone. Moncada pounced, crushing a ball over the wall in right-center. The exit velocity was 102 mph and the estimated distance was 411 feet.
It was Moncada’s 10th home run in 39 Double-A games. He’s batting .285. He has 23 walks and a .386 on-base percentage, and a .563 slugging average.
Moncada also looked sharp again at third base, making a diving stop and throwing the runner out at first.
Romanski got his average back to .300 with his three hits, and Aneury Tavarez (2 for 3, walk) remains the Eastern League batting leader with a .334 average. Sturgeon and Lin also had two hits.
Three relievers kept New Hampshire hitless over the last four innings – Williams Jerez (two innings, two walks, four strikeouts), Ty Buttrey (one inning, one walk, one strikeout) and Luis Ysla (one inning, one strikeout).
NOTES: The Sea Dogs (50-76) and Fisher Cats (62-67) play again at 6 p.m. Wednesday. A fireworks show will follow the game. … Reliever Austin Maddox was returned to the Sea Dogs’ roster from Pawtucket.
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