Newest Fisher Cat greets Portland with a three-run homer

MANCHESTER – Portland, meet J.P. Arencibia.

The new guy homered in his first at-bat against the Sea Dogs, and the New Hampshire Fisher Cats banged out a 6-1 win before 6,124 fans last night.

Arencibia and Aaron Mathews each had three-run tall jacks, giving starter Brett Cecil plenty of offense at Merchantsauto.com Stadium.

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Cecil (2-1) took a shutout into the sixth inning, allowing three hits and one run, while New Hampshire took its hacks at Portland starter Dave Gassner (0-2).

Arencibia, who joined the team from Single-A Dunedin, needed only 12 at-bats for his first Eastern League homer. Toronto's first-round draft pick from 2007 now has six RBIs in four games.

Mathews made it 6-0 with a three-run blast in the sixth, a roof shot off Gassner onto the Sam Adams Bar & Grill. The Oregon native now leads the Fisher Cats with 43 RBIs. Travis Snider singled in the first inning, extending to 13 games his team-leading hitting streak.

Portland managed only five hits, including Sandy Madera's sixth-inning double that scored Tony Granadillo. Gassner was touched for six earned runs and seven hits.

Cecil, limited to about 75 pitches, looked sharp after walking two batters in the first inning. He struck out four and was relieved by Seth Overbey in the sixth. Jean Machi returned from the disabled list and pitched a scoreless eighth before handing the ball to closer Zach Dials.

New Hampshire's J.P. Arencibia, left, high fives teammate Travis Snider after Arencibia hit a three-run homer in the first inning of last night's game against Portland in Manchester. (DAVID LANE)

Right-hander Brandon Magee (0-9, 5.84 ERA) makes his 15th start for the Fisher Cats tonight. He'll face lefty Kris Johnson (4-3, 3.91 ERA) in the 7:05 p.m. contest, followed by an Atlas fireworks show.

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HOUSE CLEANING: The dismissal of Toronto manager John Gibbons and three Blue Jays coaches could be felt inside the Fisher Cats clubhouse last night.

"It's a bad day for the organization," manager Gary Cathcart said. "It's all about the major-league team. We're here to develop these guys and help the major-league team. Any time that happens, it's not a good day, especially when they're people you're friendly with and worked with and know how good the people are. John Gibbons is as good a man there is."

Cathcart and several Fisher Cats players spent time with Gibbons, hitting coach Gary Denbo and base coaches Marty Pevey and Ernie Whitt during spring training. They were all fired yesterday as the Jays (35-39) felt a need for change.

"I was in spring training with all those guys, and they took good care of me. I was a big fan of Gibby," Fisher Cats outfielder Ryan Patterson said. "I like those guys and thought they were doing a good job, but it's a business decision. You have to understand that and move on."