Rock Cats Pummel Portland Pitching, Win 9-7

STOLMY PIMENTEL (PHOTO JASON GENDRON)

It looked like a pitchers duel early on, as Stolmy Pimentel and Steve Hirschfeld both were dealing in the first three innings. Then the fireworks that were scheduled for after the game came a little early. New Britain scored 8 of their 9 runs between the 4th and 7th innings, and the Sea Dogs' rally in the ninth fell short as the Rock Cats won 9-7.

Pimentel looked to be fully in command early on, save for two hits that led to a run in the 2nd inning. Through three innings he had 2 strikeouts, 2 hits, 1 earned run, and no walks, while

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throwing 24 of his 38 pitches for strikes. Then the 4th inning came, and it all fell apart. He walked the first two batters, each on 5 pitches, before Ray Chang and Yangervis Solarte hit and RBI single and double, respectively. Mark Dolenc's sacrifice fly made it 3 runs in the inning, giving New Britain a 4-1 lead after 3 1/2 innings.

Hirschfeld looked even better for the Rock Cats. He struck out 4 of the first 7 batters he faced, catching both Will Middlebrooks and Oscar Tejeda looking with two men and no one out in the 2nd. He allowed an RBI double to Ryan Lavarnway in the 3rd, but through three innings he looked like he had the best of the Portland offense. He also ran into trouble in the 4th inning. Jorge Padron and Middlebrooks had a double and a single, respectively to lead off the inning. After Tejeda was safe on a fielder's choice and Chih-Hsien Chiang popped out to short, Ryan Dent
came up to bat and things got a little weird. A wild pitch plated Padron, and the other runners advanced as well. Dent got to a full count, then hit a sacrifice fly to left to bring home Middlebrooks. Che-Hsuan Lin drew a full count walk, but Alex Hassan grounded out to end the inning.

New Britain would add two runs each in the 5th and 6th innings, off Pimentel and reliever Jeremy Kehrt. The Sea Dogs added a run in the 5th, as Chiang singled to second with the bases loaded and two outs after reliever Spencer Steedley walked three batters. That chased Steedley after only 2/3 of an inning. Santos Arias got Dent to ground out to end the inning.

The Rock Cats added an insurance run in the 7th, as Daniel Rohlfing singled home Deibinson Romero with two outs. That pushed the score to 9-4 at the 7th-inning stretch.

The Sea Dogs went to bat in the bottom of the 9th with nothing to lose and gave it all they had. After Alex Hassan grounded out leading off to complete his 0-for-5 night, Tim Federowicz drew a full-count walk. Lavarnway then provided some early fireworks, sending a Jake Stevens pitch over the wall in right-center. That made it 9-6 New Britain. Padron grounded out to the pitcher to put the Sea Dogs down to their last out. Middlebrooks singled to shallow left to give the fans some hope. Oscar Tejeda then doubled him home to cut the deficit to two. Stevens was replaced by Tyler Robertson, who had to face Chiang, who represented the tying run. A wild pitch moved Tejeda to second, but Chiang struck out swinging with a full count to end the game.

Arias picked up the win, pitching 2 1/3 innings with 1 hit, no runs, and 2 strikeouts. Pimentel took the loss to go to 0-2 on the young season. In 4 1/3 innings, he gave up 6 runs on 6 hits, with 2 walks, and 2 strikeouts. He finished with 39 strikes on 72 pitches. Robertson picked up his third save of the season after striking out Chiang, the only batter he faced.

Ray Chang and Yangervis Solarte led the Rock Cat offense. Chang went 3 for 5 with 2 RBIs and a run, and Solarte went 2 for 5 with 3 RBIs.

Lavarnway went 2 for 4 with 2 RBIs, 2 runs, and a walk. Middlebrooks also went 2 for 4 with 2 runs scored. Hassan's 0-fer night ended a hot start to the season, and dropped his batting average down to a "miniscule" .408.

The teams play the rubber game of the series tomorrow afternoon at 1pm.

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Sea Dogs Manager Kevin Boles