CATS DEAL DOGS A DOUBLE DEFEAT
A rain delay pushed the first game of the Rock Cats' doubleheader with the Portland Sea Dogs up 2 hours, 26 minutes.
In their constant quest of pleasing the fans, they opted to treat fans to a belated Independence Day fireworks display between games, so the second game went deep into the night, deeper than our deadline would permit.
For those interested in the complete story that could not appear in Saturday's Herald, here are the details of a twinbill which carried the Rock Cats to within a game of the third-place Sea Dogs.
New Britain Rock Cats starter Ryan Mullins and leadoff hitter Brandon Roberts celebrated a day of Double-A firsts.
Mullins earned his first Eastern League win and Roberts slugged his first home run of the season Friday night to lead the Rock Cats to a 6-3 win over the Portland Sea Dogs in the first game of a doubleheader.
A botched pop-up by the Portland infield led to a 5-4 New Britain victory in the nightcap.
Mullins (1-2) yielded three runs on seven hits before tiring with one out in the sixth inning. Mullins had five quality starts in his first six outings but was unable to get the elusive victory.
“It feels good to get my first victory but I wish I could have gone deeper into the game,” said Mullins, a left-hander who was promoted to New Britain from Class-A Fort Myers May 29. “I’m getting better with all of my pitches and I’m starting to get into a groove.”
The Rock Cats (40-43) wasted little time in seizing the initiative off Portland starter T.J. Nall (3-11) when Roberts, with his family on hand from Florida, launched an arching fly ball that cleared the right-field wall with the count full.
“It was a fastball in,” Roberts said. “I just got lucky and squared it up.”
Portland right fielder Cory Keylor dropped Felix Molina’s warning-track with Brock Peterson aboard and nobody out, paving the way for an unearned run in the second inning. Korey Feiner tapped a grounder to short with the bases loaded and two out.
Nall retired the first two Rock Cats in the third inning but Peterson worked a walk and Molina smacked his fifth homer of the season well beyond the right-field wall to double New Britain’s advantage.
Portland (41-42) threatened to cut into the gap in the fourth but Mullins limited the damage. With the bases loaded and none out, a groundout by Jay Johnson scored a lone Sea Dogs run.
The Sea Dogs chased Mullins in the sixth. Jed Lowrie (2-for-3) doubled and scored on a one-out triple by Johnson. Johnson (1-for-3, 2 RBI) came in on Andrew Pinckney’s infield hit. Tim Lahey set down the next two hitters and retired Portland in order in the seventh to notch his fourth save.
In Game 2, Portland third baseman Pinckney dropped a pop fly 10 feet in front of home plate with the bases loaded and two out in the third inning, allowing the Rock Cats to score the two runs that made the difference.
“He’s got to make the play but he didn’t,” Portland manager Arnie Beyeler said. “It was his ball and he knows it.”
Johnson had two doubles and two RBI for the Sea Dogs, who dropped their first twinbill of the season.
Veteran knuckleballer Charlie Zink (8-3) yielded five runs (three earned) on six hits and three walks while striking out three.
“He struggles to throw when it’s humid out,” Beyeler said. “The knuckleball wasn’t working very well. He threw probably 10 good ones. … He battled and we got five good innings out of him, basically without any stuff.”
Moses had a two-run double in New Britain’s three-run first inning.
J.P. Martinez (2-4) retired nine of the 10 hitters he faced in relief of Rock Cats starter Josh Hill, six on strikeouts.The Rock Cats have swept four of their doubleheaders this season and split two.
In their constant quest of pleasing the fans, they opted to treat fans to a belated Independence Day fireworks display between games, so the second game went deep into the night, deeper than our deadline would permit.
For those interested in the complete story that could not appear in Saturday's Herald, here are the details of a twinbill which carried the Rock Cats to within a game of the third-place Sea Dogs.
New Britain Rock Cats starter Ryan Mullins and leadoff hitter Brandon Roberts celebrated a day of Double-A firsts.
Mullins earned his first Eastern League win and Roberts slugged his first home run of the season Friday night to lead the Rock Cats to a 6-3 win over the Portland Sea Dogs in the first game of a doubleheader.
A botched pop-up by the Portland infield led to a 5-4 New Britain victory in the nightcap.
Mullins (1-2) yielded three runs on seven hits before tiring with one out in the sixth inning. Mullins had five quality starts in his first six outings but was unable to get the elusive victory.
“It feels good to get my first victory but I wish I could have gone deeper into the game,” said Mullins, a left-hander who was promoted to New Britain from Class-A Fort Myers May 29. “I’m getting better with all of my pitches and I’m starting to get into a groove.”
The Rock Cats (40-43) wasted little time in seizing the initiative off Portland starter T.J. Nall (3-11) when Roberts, with his family on hand from Florida, launched an arching fly ball that cleared the right-field wall with the count full.
“It was a fastball in,” Roberts said. “I just got lucky and squared it up.”
Portland right fielder Cory Keylor dropped Felix Molina’s warning-track with Brock Peterson aboard and nobody out, paving the way for an unearned run in the second inning. Korey Feiner tapped a grounder to short with the bases loaded and two out.
Nall retired the first two Rock Cats in the third inning but Peterson worked a walk and Molina smacked his fifth homer of the season well beyond the right-field wall to double New Britain’s advantage.
Portland (41-42) threatened to cut into the gap in the fourth but Mullins limited the damage. With the bases loaded and none out, a groundout by Jay Johnson scored a lone Sea Dogs run.
The Sea Dogs chased Mullins in the sixth. Jed Lowrie (2-for-3) doubled and scored on a one-out triple by Johnson. Johnson (1-for-3, 2 RBI) came in on Andrew Pinckney’s infield hit. Tim Lahey set down the next two hitters and retired Portland in order in the seventh to notch his fourth save.
In Game 2, Portland third baseman Pinckney dropped a pop fly 10 feet in front of home plate with the bases loaded and two out in the third inning, allowing the Rock Cats to score the two runs that made the difference.
“He’s got to make the play but he didn’t,” Portland manager Arnie Beyeler said. “It was his ball and he knows it.”
Johnson had two doubles and two RBI for the Sea Dogs, who dropped their first twinbill of the season.
Veteran knuckleballer Charlie Zink (8-3) yielded five runs (three earned) on six hits and three walks while striking out three.
“He struggles to throw when it’s humid out,” Beyeler said. “The knuckleball wasn’t working very well. He threw probably 10 good ones. … He battled and we got five good innings out of him, basically without any stuff.”
Moses had a two-run double in New Britain’s three-run first inning.
J.P. Martinez (2-4) retired nine of the 10 hitters he faced in relief of Rock Cats starter Josh Hill, six on strikeouts.The Rock Cats have swept four of their doubleheaders this season and split two.
posted by Ken Lipshez at
1:44 AM
1 Comments:
Hey Ken, I'm really enjoying your blog after reading your Rock Cats news articles for the past several years. I got to see your face during a Rock Cats story on FSNN. Nice to put a face with your stories. ...jan
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