Rock Cats Rally, Hold off Portland for Wild Win

Published on May 12, 2011 under Eastern League (EL1)
New Britain Rock Cats News Release


NEW BRITAIN, CT - Daniel Osterbrock struggled in his New Britain Stadium debut but his team rallied - led by catcher Chris Herrmann and first baseman Chris Parmelee - as the Rock Cats downed Portland, 10-9 on Thursday night. Herrmann and Parmelee had three hits apiece; Herrmann also scored a game-high three runs.

In a game with a combined 26 hits, neither starting pitcher lasted through the fourth inning. Osterbrock allowed seven runs (six earned) on six hits in three innings. Portland starter Brock Huntzinger (2-4) was hammered for eight runs on nine hits and four walks in just 3 1/3 innings. Portland also had five errors on the night.

The Sea Dogs jumped on Osterbrock - who was making just his second overall start in Double-A - for four runs in the first inning, highlighted by a three-run homer by Will Middlebrooks. The inning started with a free pass to Che-Hsuan Lin, who stole second, before Alex Hassan drilled a double to center field to knock in the first run of the game. An error by shortstop Chris Cates allowed Ryan Lavanway to reach base safely before Middlebrooks crushed a three-run shot over the center field wall for the 4-0 lead.

The Rock Cats cut the lead in half in the bottom of the inning. Mike Hollimon started things off with a leadoff walk, stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error by catcher Tim Federowicz. With two outs, Chris Parmelee worked a walk to put runners on the corners before Evan Bigley delivered a line drive double to left to knock in both runners.

Hassan struck again in the second with a two-run single to put the Sea Dogs ahead, 6-2. In the bottom of the inning, the `Cats answered the bell yet again. Mark Dolenc and Cates opened the inning with consecutive singles before Hollimon went down on strikes. Herrmann dropped a single into left to knock in two runs and come back to within two. Parmelee then lined a single into right to score Herrmann and bring the `Cats within one run.

The Sea Dogs used back-to-back doubles by Oscar Tejeda and Jonathan Hee to put another run on the board in the top of the third. The Rock Cats closed the gap to one run again courtesy of a sacrifice fly off of Cates' bat.

In the fourth, Spencer Steedley came on in relief for the `Cats and held the Sea Dogs scoreless. That set the stage for the `Cats to take its' first lead of the game in the bottom half of the inning. Herrmann led off the inning with a single and Joe Benson and Parmelee each delivered a base hit to load the bases with no outs. Bigley struck out before Yangervis Solarte drew a walk to force in Herrmann for the tying run. That knocked Huntzinger out of the game. Romero then delivered a sacrifice fly RBI off of reliever Caleb Clay to knock in Benson and put the `Cats on top, 8-7.

Benson added an RBI single in the fifth inning. Steedley (2-1) fired 2 1/3 shutout innings in relief to keep the Rock Cats in the game. Brett Jacobson and Michael Tarsi combined for a 1 2/3 scoreless innings before handing the ball over to closer Cole DeVries. The Sea Dogs struck for two runs against DeVries in the eighth on Middlebrooks' two-run single. DeVries escaped the inning without any further damage and closed it out in the ninth to notch his team-high eighth save.

For the Sea Dogs, Hassan and Middlebrooks each had three hits apiece. Middlebrooks knocked in a game-high five runs on the night while Hassan had three RBI.

ALLSTATE PLAYER OF THE GAME: C Chris Herrmann went 3-for-5 with three runs scored for the `Cats.

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