Rosario Clubs Two Homers, Four RBI; Rock Cats Fall Late, Lose 10-9

Published on July 22, 2014 under Eastern League (EL1)
New Britain Rock Cats News Release


New Britain, CT - The Rock Cats came up just short in a wild 10-9 loss against Altoona on Tuesday evening at New Britain Stadium.

The Cats offense was called into action early, finding themselves down 5-0 before their first at-bats. LF Eddie Rosario looked like a man on a mission, launching two-run homers in both the second and third innings, putting New Britain back into the driver's seat. Altoona rallied late against RHP Matt Summers to secure the come from behind victory, picking up two runs in the ninth. The Rock Cats would threaten with runners on second and third in the bottom of the ninth before RHP Ryan Bockman struck out SS Tony Thomas to close out the game.

For the second time in as many nights, Altoona's DH Dan Gamache hit a two-run home run in his first at-bat, giving the visitors a 2-0 lead. Curve batters didn't stop there - picking up three more runs on six hits overall in the opening frame for the Pittsburgh Pirates Double-A affiliate.

Rock Cats starter RHP Virgil Vasquez battled to get out of the first inning - giving up three straight hits, including the home run, to start the game before recording the first out. LF Willy Garcia (RBI double) and 2B Gift Ngoepe (two-run double) chipped in to put New Britain in a 5-0 hole early on.

The Cats responded with three runs of their own in the bottom half of the first, loading the bases after recording two quick outs. RF Mike Kvasnicka pushed both Rosario and 1B Kennys Vargas across the plate on a base hit laced out to right field. New Britain picked up their third run when 3B Brandon Waring hustled down the first base line on a grounder out to SS Alen Hanson, drawing a throwing error from the shortstop and allowing RF Reynaldo Rodriguez to come in from third.

New Britain erased Altoona's lead completely after two innings of play, coming courtesy of a big home run from Rosario. The leftfielder sent RHP Joan Montero's pitch high over the hitter's eye in centerfield, also scoring CF Aaron Hicks, who walked in the previous at-bat.

C Kyle Knudson put the Rock Cats up 6-5 in the bottom of the third inning on a productive groundout to 3B Jarek Cunningham. Waring, who singled to lead off the inning and then was moved over on a single by 2B Brad Boyer and a wild pitch from Montero, was moving on contact and gave New Britain the lead after being down by five.

A second wild pitch from the Curve starter allowed Boyer to come across to score and then it was Rosario who hit his second two-run home run of the night, giving New Britain a 9-5 lead after three.

Vasquez was reached for two more runs on four straight hits to start the fifth, seeing Altoona pull within two. The righthander handed the ball off to the Rock Cats bullpen with runners on first and second and no out. Although he left with the lead intact, Vasquez did not go the required five innings to factor into the decision. RHP Adrian Salcedo allowed a fielder's choice grounder that scored C Elias Diaz, making it a 9-8 ballgame. The hard-throwing reliever responded by striking out Gamache to squash the rally.

Altoona came through in the ninth to convert the comeback victory. After getting a fly out to start the inning, RHP Matt Summers gave up back-to-back singles before Cunningham lifted a sacrifice fly out to center to bring in the tying run. Ngoepe, who had three hits on the night, stole second and then came around to score on a RBI base hit from Hanson. Summers was the tough luck loser, hit with his second blown save and seeing his record fall to 2-4.

A two-out single from Boyer and a double by C Kyle Knudson brought the home crowd to its feet, but Altoona's bullpen came through once again as Beckman struck out Thomas to earn his fifth save of the year. RHP Jeff Inman worked two scoreless innings to earn the win, he moves to 2-0.

New Britain plays Altoona at home for the final home matchup against the Pirates affiliate. The rubber game starts at 12:05 p.m., seeing Rock Cats LHP Pat Dean square off against Curve RHP Adrian Sampson.

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Eastern League Stories from July 22, 2014


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