Sellout Crowd Watches Rock Cats Win Thrilling 1-0 Pitchers' Duel

Published on May 23, 2013 under Eastern League (EL1)
New Britain Rock Cats News Release


New Britain, CT - A capacity crowd of 6,201 turned out early at New Britain Stadium on Thursday morning and they were rewarded with a scintillating pitchers' duel between two very talented southpaws. In a pre-noon game put on the schedule to accommodate fans ranging from school kids to retirees, a packed house in New Britain saw the Rock Cats' Logan Darnell toss 8 innings of brilliant shutout ball. The 24-year-old lefty threw a season-high 112 pitches, scattering 6 hits and fanning 9 while improving his record to 4-3. His mound opponent, Binghamton's starter and tough luck loser Mark Cohoon (3-2), was also outstanding as he too allowed just 6 safeties over 8 full innings of work.

The fast-moving contest - it took just 2 hours and 7 minutes - was decided in the bottom of the 5th inning when New Britain's Daniel Ortiz, leading off the frame, belted a 2-2 Cohoon offering far over the right-field fence for his sixth home run of the year. Even though there were four more innings to play, the quality of the pitching on both sides made attentive fans sense that Ortiz's single blow could be decisive. It was; the Rock Cats collected just three harmless total hits the rest of the way.

Darnell took the mound in the 6th inning determined to make the 1-run advantage stand up. In fact, he tossed three more complete frames allowing only a harmless 8th-inning single to the B-Mets' Cesar Puello.

Michael Tonkin came out of the New Britain bullpen to finish the game. With one out in the 9th, Tonkin hit Binghamton's Joe Bonfe with a pitch, but proceeded to end the game by retiring the final two Binghamton batters on harmless groundouts. Tonkins earned his 6th Save of the year.

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Eastern League Stories from May 23, 2013


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