Sports stats



Cats Win 7-0

August 14, 2009 - Eastern League (EL1)
New Britain Rock Cats News Release


New Britain, CT - Deolis Guerra and Loek Van Mil flirted with a combined no-hitter and Erik Lis provided the offensive spark as the Rock Cats shut out Akron, 7-0 on Friday night. The Rock Cats limited the Aeros to just one hit - a single in the eighth - to secure its' second consecutive shutout before a standing room only crowd of 8,380.

Guerra (5-2) shut down a potent Akron offense as he fired six hitless innings. Guerra, the 20-year-old pitching prospect who the Minnesota Twins acquired from the New York Mets in the Johan Santana trade, retired 19 of the 22 batters he faced. He struck out nine before handing the ball over to the bullpen.

The Rock Cats provided Guerra with a cushion with a four-run fifth inning against relief pitcher Carlton Smith. Toby Gardenhire started the offensive attack with a one-out single to right field and Brandon Roberts reached base on a walk. Rene Tosoni hit a grounder to third base that allowed Gardenhire to score the first run of the game and forced Roberts out at second. Tosoni reached first base safely on a throwing error by second baseman Cristo Arnal as he attempted to turn the double play. Wilson Ramos kept the inning alive with a base hit to center field to bring Erik Lis to the plate. Lis laced a double to center that knocked in Tosoni and - combined with throwing errors by Smith (4-2) and shortstop Carlos Rivero - allowed both Ramos and Lis to cross the plate.

Van Mil took over on the mound for the Rock Cats in the seventh inning and impressed in his first inning of work. The 7'1" native of the Netherlands struck out the first Eastern League batter he faced and went on to force the next two batters to ground out to keep the no-hitter intact.

The Rock Cats broke open the game in the seventh when Tosoni and Ramos hit back-to-back double, with Tosoni scoring on Ramos' hit to left field. Lis singled before Brian Dinkelman delivered a line drive double that plated Ramos. Luke Hughes tacked on another run with a sacrifice fly that scored Lis.

Van Mil returned to the mound in the eighth and retired the first batter of the inning. Arnal then singled up the middle for the Aeros first hit of the game. Van Mil finished with one hit and one strikeout in two scoreless innings. Spencer Steedley sealed the shutout with a perfect ninth.

Akron starter Jeanmar Gomez tossed four shutout innings with one hit and three walks but came away with the no-decision. The Aeros, who hold the best record in the Eastern League, committed five errors on the night.

• Discuss this story on the Eastern League message board...

Eastern League Stories from August 14, 2009


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central