Rock Cats Take Down Akron, 5-3

Published on June 7, 2011 under Eastern League (EL1)
New Britain Rock Cats News Release


NEW BRITAIN, CT - Deolis Guerra struck out seven in relief and Mike Hollimon had two RBI doubles as the Rock Cats downed Akron, 5-3 on Tuesday night.

The Rock Cats took an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first when Chris Parmelee stretched a sharply hit ball to left into a double and scored on Evan Bigley's base hit to left.

Deinys Suarez, who was making his professional debut with the Rock Cats, cruised through the early portion of the game. He retired the first five batters he faced until Nick Weglarz doubled to right field for the first hit allowed by Suarez. Chun-Hsiu Chen followed with a single to right to plate Weglarz and tie the game.

The Rock Cats regained the lead in the second with three more runs off of Akron's Matt Packer. Jair Fernandez and Chris Herrmann started the inning off with consecutive singles. Both runners scored on a one-out triple off the bat of Mark Dolenc for the 3-1 lead. Mike Hollimon added an RBI double that scored Dolenc.

In the top of the third. Suarez ran into a bit of trouble when he walked two batters. With two outs, Beau Mills lined a single into right field to score Jordan Henry and close the gap, 4-2.

Chen crushed a solo homer in the fourth inning that brought the Aeros to within one run.

Suarez scattered five hits while allowing three runs in four innings but didn't qualify for the win. Guerra came on in relief for the Rock Cats and hurled four shutout innings in his first appearance out of the bullpen this season. Guerra (4-5) struck out seven while allowing two hits to pick up the win. Bruce Pugh picked up his first save of the season with a scoreless ninth.

Suarez, a 27-year-old who defected from Havana, Cuba in 2009, was signed by the Minnesota Twins to a minor league contract last month. The 5'11," 194-lb. right-hander was a member of several prominent amateur squads in Cuba, including the Cuban National Team that participated in the 2006 World Baseball Classic. He worked out at the Twins' Minor League complex in Florida before being assigned to New Britain.

Hollimon tacked on another run in the fifth inning with his second RBI double of the game. He was one of four ‘Cats batters with two-hit nights.

Packer (2-6) surrendered five runs on nine hits through five innings.

ALLSTATE PLAYER OF THE GAME: RHP Deolis Guerra fired four shutout innings in relief. He struck out seven and walked just one while limiting Akron to two hits in his first appearance out of the bullpen this season.

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