Steward Berroa homered for the Fisher Cats in a losing cause vs. Hartford on Friday night. (Courtesy photo by Susan McGowan)

HARTFORD, Conn. — The New Hampshire Fisher Cats fell on Friday night against the Hartford Yard Goats by a score of 8-6 from Dunkin’ Park. The Yard Goats lead the series three games to two.

New Hampshire (16-25, 51-58) led by as much as 5-2 after the top of the fourth. The Fisher Cats scored four in the third on Steward Berroa’s fifth homer of the season, Rainer Nunez’s RBI single and Andres Sosa’s two-run single. Berroa hit his first home run since July 2 vs Portland. Nunez collected three hits on the game, his second three-hit game of the series.

Alan Roden made it a three-run lead with a solo shot to left-center, his third Double-A homer, in the top of the fourth. The Blue Jays No. 7 prospect had two hits on the night and has 10 in the series.

Hartford (20-21, 50-59) rallied with a run in the fourth and three runs in the sixth to take a 6-5 lead.

Riley Tirotta tied the game in the eighth with an opposite field home run, his fifth in Double-A. Tirotta has eight home runs this year between High-A Vancouver and Double-A New Hampshire.

In the bottom of the eighth, Hartford’s Sterlin Thompson hit a two-run go-ahead homer off Trevor Clifton down the right-field line with two outs to win the game for the Yard Goats, his second home run of the night.

Starting right-hander Abdiel Mendoza made his fourth Double-A start. The 24-year-old Panamanian threw 4.2 innings and allowed three runs on three hits and two walks with five strikeouts in a no-decision. It’s the third straight start where Mendoza has struck out five batters.

The Fisher Cats continue their road trip against the Hartford Yard Goats today at at 6:10 p.m. RHP Alejandro Melean (2-1, 3.83 ERA) will get the start for New Hampshire against RHP Case Williams (1-9, 6.35 ERA) for Hartford.