Rogers Wins Third Straight; Rock Cats Defeat Portland 4-2

Published on May 13, 2014 under Eastern League (EL1)
New Britain Rock Cats News Release


New Britain, CT - The Rock Cats topped the Portland Sea Dogs by the score of 4-2 on Tuesday evening at New Britain Stadium.

New Britain got a quality start from LHP Taylor Rogers, who picked up his third straight win of the season, and timely hitting from the offense to erase an early deficit.

Sea Dogs catcher Blake Swihart led off the top of the second inning with a line drive solo home run off of New Britain starter LHP Taylor Rogers. Visiting Portland made it 2-0 on an RBI single from 2B Mookie Betts. The base hit scored LF Derrik Gibson, who reached on a fielding error committed by SS Brad Boyer earlier in the frame.

New Britain would cut into that lead in the bottom half of the second on an RBI groundout hit by LF Daniel Ortiz. 1B Travis Shaw fielded the ball behind the bag and made the out unassisted but his throw home was too late to get 1B Kennys Vargas who was hustling from third. Vargas, who showed great speed all night for a player his size (6'5", 275 lbs) led off the inning with a double that scraped off the top half of the wall in straightaway center.

3B Brandon Waring put the Rock Cats ahead 3-2 after four innings with a two RBI double off the wall in left-center. Both RF Reynaldo Rodriguez and Vargas singled off of Portland starter RHP Mike Augliera and Waring's two-out drive gave New Britain the lead for the first time in the game.

Rogers did a good job of preserving the lead in the top of the sixth - stranding runners on second and third after registering back-to-back strikeouts. The lefthander struck out seven Sea Dogs batters on the night, tying a season high. His record improves to 3-3 with the win, his third in a row. Three Rock Cats relievers - Adrian Salcedo, Cole Johnson and Lester Oliveros, combined to allow just two hits while walking two and striking out six. Oliveros picked up his five save of 2014.

Ortiz gave the Rock Cats an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth, cracking an RBI double that bounced around the corner in right field. The extra bounces against the wall gave Rodriguez, who singled in the previous at-bat, enough time to come around all the way from first to score and make it a 4-2 game.

Augliera falls to 2-4 on the year with the loss after working seven innings, allowing four runs, all earned, on seven hits while walking one and striking out two.

New Britain continues the three-game series on Wednesday evening with a 6:35 p.m. contest. Rock Cats starter RHP Tyler Duffey faces off against Red Sox's top prospect RHP Henry Owens.

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Eastern League Stories from May 13, 2014


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