Bluefish Lose to Patriots, 4-2

Published on July 22, 2002 under Atlantic League (AtL)
Bridgeport Bluefish News Release


BRIDGEPORT, Conn., July 22, 2002 — The First Half Northern Division Champion Bridgeport Bluefish lost to the visiting Somerset Patriots, 4-2, on Monday evening before 3,854 fans at The Ballpark at Harbor Yard.

Somerset starter Ricardo Jordan (9-6) threw his second complete game of the season, a four-hit gem, striking out seven while walking only three. In allowing only two hits in his first six innings on the mound, the left-hander retired the first 7-of-8 ‘Fish batters he faced,a base on balls to Cesar Devarez with one out in the second the only blemish. Through four innings, the left-hander recorded six strikeouts, including two in each of the first and fourth innings.

The Patriots took the lead in their very first trip to the plate against Bluefish 10-game winner Alan Mahaffey. With one out, Emiliano Escandon (2-for-5, RBI) hit a one-out triple to the gap in right-center and scored one batter later on a Charles Poe ground-out. For Poe, it was his 35th run batted in on the season.

Billy Hall almost single-handedly gave his team a 2-0 lead in the Patriot half of the the third. After a lead-off walk, the Atlantic League's stolen base leader (50) stole second and advanced to third on a fly out to center field by Escandon. Two batters later, Hall (1-for-4, BB, 2 SB) took off from third as Mahaffey threw to the plate, stealing home to score the team's second run. The speedy shortstop would later triple to the left center-field gap in the sixth, scoring Sean Mulligan to put Somerset on top, 4-0.

Mahaffey (10-4) lost for the third time in four outings after winning nine straight decisions from 5/12 to 6/29. The Bluefish lefty has now registered three of his four losses on the season at Harbor Yard. The ‘Fish bullpen pitched three innings of shutout relief as LHP Terry Rosenkranz (2.1 IP, 2 SO) and RHP Joe Strong (0.2, 1 SO) allowed only two hits and one base on balls. In six games with Bridgeport, Strong has not allowed an earned run in 5.2 innings (0.00 ERA).

Jose Amado (1-for-4) extended his current team-high hit streak to five games with a lead-off single in the Bluefish portion of the fourth. After Brendan Kingman (1-for-4) reached on a Jeff Berblinger error (19) one inning later, Jordan would retire the next seven Bridgeport batters in order.

That was when the Bluefish would start their comeback, which has become commonplace over the past week. After a Juan Rocha walk and a Kingman single, John Dorman (2-for-3) put Bridgeport on the scoreboard with his 8th RBI of the season. A sacrifice fly by lead-off man Rolo Avila plated the second run of the inning, but Jordan would regroup after putting runners on first and second with two outs when he hit Angel Espada with a 1-2 pitch. The Somerset south paw would retire the final seven batters of the game in order.

Desi Wilson led the visitors, going 4-for-5 on the night with four singles and a stolen base.

With the loss, the Bluefish fall to (42-32, 6-5) on the season, while Somerset improves to (44-30, 8-3). The Bluefish will send 10-game winner Brad Cornett (10-3, 3.78) to the mound on Tuesday evening to face the Patriots' RHP Edwin Corps (3-4, 5.11) in the series finale.

‘FISH FACTS: For the game, Somerset outhit the Bluefish by a final tally of 10-4. Bridgeport is now 4-24 when they are outhit by their opponent...While the ‘Fish have won the majority of games against Northern Division opponents in 2002 (22-8), they have posted a contrasting record of 20-24 against the other division...Cesar Devarez's seven-game hitting streak came to a conclusion as the Bluefish catcher went 0-for-3 on the evening. He had a team-high 12-game streak earlier in 2002 from 5/15 to 6/3.

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Atlantic League Stories from July 22, 2002


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