MANCHESTER — The New Hampshire Fisher Cats didn't produce much offense Friday night, but what they did produce was good enough.

Starting pitcher Ryan Tepera turned in seven strong innings, and Marcus Stroman and John Stilson each pitched well out of the bullpen to help the Fisher Cats open their three-game series against Altoona with a 3-2 victory.

“I thought (Tepera) did a very good job,” New Hampshire manager Sal Fasano said. “His slider was a finisher tonight.

“Ryan has a tendency to work too much around the plate, but when he's aggressive and pounds the strike zone he gets a lot of bad swings out of them. When he nibbles and works from the outside of the plate in, he gets killed. You always want to work from the middle, and learn to expand out.”

Tepera (7-2) allowed two runs on six hits and struck out six to collect his sixth win in his last seven decisions. Stroman, Toronto's 2012 first-round pick (22nd overall) out of Duke, and Stilson each pitched a scoreless inning to preserve the one-run lead.

“Trying to finish the season strong,” Tepera said. “I just tried to execute my pitches and things worked out well tonight. It's nice to have (relief) pitchers who can lock down a lead, especially in a one-run game.”

New Hampshire (51-74) had seven hits against three Altoona pitchers. Kris Harvey surrendered two hits in two innings of relief and took the loss.

Left fielder Brian Van Kirk had the game's biggest hit, a single in the sixth that scored Ryan Goins with New Hampshire's third run.

Catcher Yorvit Torrealba collected two hits in his second game with the Fisher Cats. Torrealba, who was cut by the Texas Rangers earlier this season, signed a free agent contract with Toronto and is expected to be with the Fisher Cats through the weekend. He was the designated hitter and batted leadoff Friday.

After Altoona (59-65) opened the scoring with a run in the second, New Hampshire pulled even when a Torrealba single scored Van Kirk in the third.

Altoona grabbed a 2-1 lead when Jarek Cunningham scored on an Evan Chambers single in the fifth, but the Fisher Cats went in front 3-2 by scoring twice in the sixth. Third baseman Ryan Schimpf led off the inning with a single, stole second, moved to third on a Goins single and scored on an infield throwing error that sent Goins to second. Goins then came home with the go-ahead run on Van Kirk's single to left.

The teams are scheduled to meet again tonight (7:05). The pitching matchup will feature Altoona's Brandon Cumpton (11-9, 3.86) against New Hampshire's Yohan Pino (7-7, 3.48).

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GAME NOTES: The Fisher Cats made a roster move before Friday's game. Pitcher Sean Nolin was promoted from Single-A Dunedin, and Joel Galarraga was placed on the disabled list. Nolin was 9-0 with a 2.19 ERA in 86 1/3 innings with Dunedin. … Torrealba has played on three different teams that made it to the World Series: Giants (2002), Rockies (2007) and Rangers (2011). … New Hampshire entered the game ranked 11th among Eastern League teams in both team batting average (.255) and team ERA (4.21). … Altoona hasn't won at New Hampshire since 2010.
rbrown@unionleader.com