Rock Cats Strikeout 17 Senators En Route to 5-1 Victory
August 15, 2014 - Eastern League (EL1)
New Britain Rock Cats News Release
New Britain, CT - The Rock Cats defeated the Harrisburg Senators by the score of 5-1 in front of 6,075 fans on Friday evening at New Britain Stadium.
Three Rock Cats pitchers combined to strike out 17 Harrisburg batters, one short of a team record. Starter LHP Taylor Rogers led the charge with eight, followed by RHP Adrian Salcedo with five and RHP Dan Turpen chipped in with four, including one on the last out in the ninth.
The home club took an early lead, hanging four runs on three hits in the first inning against Harrisburg starter RHP James Simmons. 1B Mike Gonzales sent a single up the middle, scoring both 2B Levi Michael and CF Eddie Rosario. Michael led off the inning and reached on a fielding error committed by SS Adrian Sanchez. He was then moved to third on a double from Rosario. New Britain also picked up runs on a productive fielder's choice from DH Reynaldo Rodriguez that scored 3B Nate Hanson and then Rodriguez himself scored on a double steal attempt with runners on first and third.
New Britain increased their lead to 5-0 in the bottom of the third on an RBI single from C Kyle Knudson that scored Gonzales. The first baseman led off the inning with a ground rule double to right field.
Harrisburg broke up the shutout bid on a solo home run in the top of the eighth from RF Drew Vettleson off of Turpen. Both teams were tied with nine hits apiece but New Britain had held the visitors scoreless up until that point.
Rogers pitched just five innings in his second start since coming off the DL, allowing no runs on six hits while walking one and whiffing the aforementioned eight. His record improves to 9-6 on the year.
Simmons was tagged with the loss (2-4), giving up five runs, three earned, while walking four and striking out three.
The teams will play a doubleheader on Saturday evening - two seven-inning contests with the first one scheduled for a 6:05 p.m. first pitch. RHP Jose Berrios goes for the Rock Cats in Game one while RHP Virgil Vasquez gets the nod in Game Two. The Senators will throw out RHP John Sims and RHP Brian Dupra.
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