Thunder beat Rock Cats with a 4-3 victory

Published on September 5, 2009 under Eastern League (EL1)
New Britain Rock Cats News Release


New Britain, CT - The Trenton Thunder won't go down quietly as they proved Saturday night when Chris Malec's sacrifice fly scored Austin Krum for the winning run in a 4-3 victory. The Thunder (69-70) now trail the Rock Cats by one game in the Northern Division. The Rock Cats (70-69) must win one of the final two games to clinch second place and the final playoff spot.

The Rock Cats battled back from a 3-0 deficit to eventually tie the game on an RBI double by Erik Lis in the eighth inning. Alex Burnett hurled three shutout innings with one hit and four strikeouts in relief to keep the game tied before he gave way to Frank Mata in the top of the 12th. Mata walked Krum to start off the inning before a sac bunt by Matthew Cusick advanced Krum to second. Shortstop Steve Singleton's throwing error allowed Eduardo Nunez to reach first and Krum to move to third. That set the stage for Malec's sac fly to left field.

Trenton broke a scoreless tie in the top of the third when James Cooper led off with a base hit to left field and Krum reached base safely on a throwing error by Rock Cats starting pitcher Matthew Fox. Matthew Cusick then knocked in both runners with a line drive double to right field.

The Thunder struck again in the fifth on an RBI single by Eduardo Nunez that scored Krum, who had lined a single to left, to put the Thunder ahead, 3-0.

The Rock Cats broke through in the bottom of the inning when Whit Robbins led off with a double, moved to third on Juan Portes' groundout, and scored on a one-out double by Ramon Santana.

Neither team plated a run until the bottom of the eighth when the Rock Cats' bats came alive with two outs. Brian Dinkelman lined a base hit into right field to keep the inning alive before Alejandro Machado doubled to left to score Dinkelman. A throwing error by Nunez at short allowed Machado to move to third. The Thunder sent Jose Valdez to the mound in place of starter Ryan Pope and Valdez served up a double to Lis that knocked in Machado for the tying run.

The Rock Cats made some noise in the bottom of the tenth when Yancarlos Ortiz drew a walk to open the inning and moved to second on a sac bunt by Dinkelman. Valdez intentionally walked Machado to load the bases before the Thunder brought in southpaw Wilkins Arias to pitch to Lis, who sent a fly ball to center for the second out. The Thunder then turned to Kanekoa Texeira to face off against Wilson Ramos in a rematch of Friday night's ninth inning battle that was won by Ramos. This time, Texeira (9-6) forced Ramos to line out to short to end the inning.

In the bottom of the 12 inning, Dinkelman and Machado struck out to start the inning before Lis kept it alive with a walk before Ramos had a second shot at Texeira. Ramos grounded out to third to end the game.

Fox finished with three runs - two earned - on eight hits after throwing 109 pitches through 5 2/3 innings. He struck out seven and walked none but had a wild pitch and an error. Loek Van Mil, Tony Davis - who made his Eastern League debut after being promoted from Rookie League Elizabethton - and Carlos Gutierrez combined for 2 1/3 scoreless innings out of the bullpen. Mata (2-5) suffered the loss.

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Eastern League Stories from September 5, 2009


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