Rock Cats fall to Harrisburg, 4-1

April 29, 2011 - Eastern League (EL1)
New Britain Rock Cats News Release


NEW BRITAIN, CT - Rock Cats starting pitcher Steve Hirschfeld engaged in an old-fashioned pitchers duel with Harrisburg's Brad Meyers, but both were long gone when the game was decided in the 12th inning. The Senators struck for three runs in the final inning to take the opening game of the series, 4-1.

Hirschfeld was impressive all night as he struck out a season-high seven batters while limiting the Senators to one run on four hits in seven innings.

The Senators struck first with a run in the top of the second. Tyler Moore led off the inning with a double off Hirschfeld. Bill Rhinehart followed with a bas ehit to center that plated Moore for the first run of the game. Hirschfeld then retired the next three batters to escape the inning without any further damage.

In the bottom of the inning, the Rock Cats looked to answer back when the hot-hitting Yangervis Solarte laced a two-out double into left field. Evan Bigley followed with a line drive single into right but Solarte was thrown out at the plate on a throw from right fielder Chris Rahl that ended the inning.

Meyers kept the Rock Cats off the board until the sixth inning. Deibinson Romero started off the inning with a double to left and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Allan de San Miguel. Mike Hollimon came through with a line drive single to right to knock in Romero and tie the game. The Rock Cats looked to take the lead when Steve Singleton extended the inning with a single to left to bring Joe Benson to the plate with two men on and one out. Benson was forced into an inning-ending unassisted double play to second baseman Steve Lombardozzi who doubled Holliman off second for the final out of the inning.

Danbury native Michael Tarsi hurled 1 1/3 scoreless innings in relief for the Rock Cats before Spencer Steedley added 2 2/3 shutout innings to keep the game tied, 1-1. The Rock Cats turned to Tyler Robertson in the final frame. Robertson (1-1) served up a leadoff double to Derek Norris. Adam Fox then laid down a bunt that was mishandled by Robertson, allowing Norris to move to third and Fox to reach first safely. Chris Rahl then dropped a single into center that scored Norris for the go-ahead run. Lombardozzi added a two-run single to put the game away.

The Rock Cats used two walks - a leadoff free pass by Holliman and a two-out walk by Chris Parmelee - to keep the game alive in the bottom of the 12th. Ray Chang was then hit with a pitch to load the bases and bring Solarte - the Rock Cats' batting leader - to the plate, but he flew out to center field to end the game.

Hassan Pena (1-1) picked up the win for the Senators.



Eastern League Stories from April 29, 2011


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