Rock Cats win pitcher's duel at Dodd

New Britain 2 at Connecticut 1

W: Y. Pino (4-4, 4.26); L: D. McKae (6-5, 4.14); SV: B. Julianel (22)
HR: None.

There haven't been too many pitching duels for the New Britain Rock Cats, but they won one Friday night against the Connecticut Defenders.

Yohan Pino worked 7 solid innings, allowing only 1 run, earned, on 2 hits and pair of walks while fanning two. For their state rivals, Dave McKae also allowed 1 earned run on 8 hits and no walks while striking out 3 over seven innings. It was the unearned run that did him in.

Adam Witter walked in the bottom of the 2nd inning for the Defenders, as did Eddy Martinez-Esteve. Following a fly out to Carlos Sosa, and a pop out to Ryan Rohlinger, Simon Klink singled to drive in Witter. A throwing error by David Winfree in right field put runners on second and third, but Pino got Kyle Haines to ground out, ending the threat.

Drew Butera was hit with a pitch in the top of the 3rd, and a throwing error by Rohlinger allowed Matt Moses to reach on a force attempt. The runners would advance on the play and following a pop out to Steve Tolleson, Luke Hughes would ground out, plating Butera.

Danny Valencia doubled in to the top of the 4th and two outs later was singled in by Felix Molina. Molina would try to steal 2nd, but was caught, retiring the side.

Dustin Martin would get on base on a ground bunt single in the top of the sixth and Valencia would double again, but Martin was taken down at home as the Defenders saved the extra run.

Rob Delaney replaced Pino in the bottom of the 8th and allowed a single to Haines. He'd not be able to advance however as Delaney made quick work of the other three batters he faced.

Ben Julianel gets the job done as closer but he likes to make it interesting. After getting Pablo Sandoval to pop out, Witter and Martinez-Esteve took walks off of him. Carlos Sosa would go down on strikes and a wild pitch would advance the runners. Rohlinger then ground out, stranding his teammates and ending the contest.

Valencia was 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles and a run. Winfree was 2-for-4 with a double. Molina was 1-for-3 with a RBI and Tolleson, Hughes and Martin were all 1-for-4, Hughes with a RBI, the other two being one hit wonders.

Butera was 0-for-2 at the plate with a run.

The save was Julianel's 22nd of the season.

Game two of the series is Saturday night at the Dodd. First pitch is set for 6:35 PM with Ben Snyder (1-2, 7.66) on the hill for Connecticut, while the Rock Cats counter with Jeff Manship (1-5, 4.50).

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Note: While there has been no word as to which Rock Cat will be replacing Brian Duensing on the Rochester Red Wings staff, it is expected that the outgoing Cat will be replaced in New Britain by Jose Mijares.

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Rochester 3 at Scanton/WB 7

W: J. Karstens (6-4, 3.80); L: B. Duensing (5-11, 4.32)
HR: SWB: M. Carson (6), A. Gonzalez (3).

Brian Duensing's last start prior to his departure for Beijing was less then memorable as the Rochester Red Wings blew a 3 run lead and ended up losing 7-3.

Duensing allowed 5 runs, all earned on 10 hits and a walk and fanned only 2 in 6.1 innings to record his 11th loss of the season.

Adam Everett would get things rolling for the Wings with a soft line drive to center. Darnell McDonald then doubled to move Everett to 3rd. Garrett Jones would go down on strikes before Randy Ruiz doubled in the pair to give the Wings a two run lead.

Matt Macri would walk in the top of the 2nd and after a pop out to Alejandro Machado, advanced to second on a Ryan Jorgenson single. Jason Pridie's single moved Macri to 3rd and following a coaching visit to the mound, Everett would knock a line drive to right to plate him.

Matt Carson homered for the Yankees in the bottom of th 4th. Juan Miranda singled and Cody Ransom walked. One out later. JD Closser singled to load up the bags. Chris Stewart then sent a ball to Everett at short that saw Miranda come home. Nick Green sacrificed in Ransom to tie up the game.

Alberto Gonzalez singled in the bottom of the 5th and advanced to second on McDonald's throwing error. Carson's sac-bunt moved him to 3rd. Miranda's line drive to right plated him to give the Yankees the lead.

Macri would double with two outs in the top of the sixth, but could not convert as Machado ground out to send the Wings back on Defense.

Following a strike out to Bernie Castro, Alberto Gonzalez homered in the bottom of 7th. That would finish it for Duensing with Julio Depaula taking over. Depaula would take Carson out on strikes, but walked Miranada. Ransom then doubled to score Miranda and a Broussard line drive single brought in Ransom.

Everett and Garrett Jones were both 2-for-4 at the plate, Everett with a run and a RBI. Macri was 1-for-2 with a pair of walks, a double and a run

Howie Clark (1-for-4) and Pridie (1-for-5) were the one hit wonders, while McDonald and Ruiz were 1-for-4 with doubles, Ruiz with 2 RBIs as well; Machado and Jorgensen were 1-for-3, Machado with a double, Jorgensen with a walk.

Jeff Karstens took the win for the Yankees, his sixth of the season, allowing 3 runs, earned on 9 hits and a pair of walks while striking out 5.

The two teams rematch Saturday at 7:00 PM.

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Reliever Carmen Cali (5-0, 3.38 ERA) will make the spot start Saturday night against Kei Igawa (9-5, 3.80) .

Manager Stan Cliburn entered Friday's game with 999 wins as a minor league manager; Cliburn has a 1,252-1,206 overall managerial record, with 253 of those wins in the Independent Texas/Louisiana League from 1995-1999. Dave Machemer is the only former Red Wings manager to have 1,000 or more minor league wins on the active manager list.

Friday's game ended a streak in which the Red Wings had hit at least one home run in 12 straight games (19 home runs during a 12-game stretch). Alejandro Machado just missed extending the homer streak, doubling off the top of the fence in the ninth inning. Rochester hit 12 home runs during the just completed eight-game homestand, out-slugging the IL home run leaders (Toledo) 8-4 during a four-game series. The 96 home runs Rochester has hit so far this season is the most in one season since 2005 (139).

The Twins lost OF Carlos Gomez after he was injured colliding with the outfield wall making a catch. Gomez needed to be carted off the field after injuring his back, and was taken to a hospital for tests.

Runs, rain finish off Hens

Photo courtesy of Nancy Zinni at Sandlot Swashbucklers.

Toledo 1 at Rochester 6 (5 innings)

W: K. Mulvey (4-8, 3.87); L: C. Lambert (10-6, 3.42)
HR: TOL: M. Hollimon (14). ROC: G. Jones (13), S. Santos (4).

Mother Nature helped the Rochester Red Wings take a win over the Toledo Mud Hens Thursday morning when rain interrupted the game after five innings of play.

Kevin Mulvey would pick up the win, his 4th of the season, after giving up 1 run, earned, on 4 hits while fanning 2.

Mike Hollimon launched is 14th home run of the season over the right field all off Mulvey in the top of the 2nd inning.

Sergio Santos answered back with a homer of his own, his fourth of the year, which went over the left field wall off Chris Lambert.

The bottom of the fifth saw Alejando Machado double, and move to 3rd on a Jeff Christy bunt. Jason Pridie would go down on strikes, but Adam Everett, playing on a rehab assignment, singled to score Machado. Darnell McDonald also singled, driving in Christy before Jones ripped his 13th home run of the season over the right field wall.

An announced crowd of 11,314 would wait out the 1 hour, six minute rain delay before the game was finally called.

Everett and McDonald had singles for the Wings, while Machado and Christy picked up doubles.

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Jason Pridie struck out three times, ending a nine-game hitting streak in which he batted .419 (18-for-43) with three doubles, two triples, six home runs, 12 RBI and 10 runs scored. Pridie had five-multi hits games during this nine-game hitting streak.

Pridie had just one home run on June 1st (first 59 games played) but has hit 10 home runs in his last 42 games. Pridie is the only Red Wings player to hit two home runs in a game this season (has done it twice).

This is the second time that Mulvey and Lambert have locked horns in 2008. In the first matchup, on May 3 in Toledo, Lambert allowed four hits in a 4-0 Hens win.

Minnesota Twins infielder Adam Everett joined the Red Wings on a Major League rehab assignment. Everett was placed on the disabled list May 22 with a right shoulder strain. Everett is batting .300 (6-for-20) for both the Gulf Coast League Twins and the Ft. Myers Miracle on this rehab assignment.

The Red Wings won their first four-game series vs. Toledo at Frontier Field since July 28-31, 2001 (Toledo has a 20-12 record at Frontier Field since 2001). Rochester has not won a season series from Toledo since 1997.

Twin use Orioles mistakes for win

GCL Twins 7 at GCL Orioles 4

W: A. Sanchez (2-1, 1.83); L: S. Taveras (0-3, 8.59); SV: K. Nanney (1)
HR: None.

Herbert Lara had 3 runs and Jonathan Goncalves picked up a pair as the GCL Twins downed the GCL Orioles, 7-4

Angelo Sanchez worked 5 innings, allowing 1 run, earned on six hits and a walk while striking out 2 to collect his second win of the season.

Lara would reach on a fielding error in the top of the 3rd, and moved to 2nd. A passed ball by Janesis Guerrero moved him to 3rd. Goncalves would take a walk and Aaron Hicks would follow that up with a single to score Lara. Adam Everett, on rehab assignment from the Major League Twins singled to load up the bags. Danny Ortiz would hit a sac fly out to right to plate Goncalves, and Ladendorf followed with a sac-fly to left to bring in Hicks.

Brian Anderson would replace Sam Taveras in the top of the 4th, and got Reggie Williams to ground out before hitting Lara with a pitch. Goncalves would reach on a fielding error that put Lara on 2nd, and a walk to Hicks got him to 3rd. Everett then sacrificed him in to make it 4-0 Twins.

The O's answered back in the bottom of the inning with Dennis Perez doubling. Sanchez then plunked Michael Gioioso with a pitch. Guerrero hit into a force out to short that took Gioioso out at 2nd, but Perez came home on the play, giving 1 to the birds.

Luiyi Batista replaced Anderson in the top of the sixth. Lara and Goncalves hit back-to-back singles and Hicks walked to load up the bags again. A wild pitch by Batista brought in Lara and Juan Sanchez, pinch hitting for Everett, knocked a line drive to center to score the remaining two runners.

Jose Mijares worked a scoreless sixth, and gave way to Steve Blevins in the seventh. Xavier Avery singled, then moved to second on Garabez Rosa's ground out. Jerome Hoes then tripled to score Avery, while a Dashenko Ricardo ground out would plate Hoes.

The O's final run came in the bottom of the 8th. Kyle Carr would hit Michael Gioioso with a pitch, then unleash a wild pitch to put him on second. Guerrero would ground out, moving Gioiso to 3rd and a fielding error by Reggie Williams saw Grohmann Gonzalez reach and Gioioso score.

Newcomer Khol Nanney replaced Carr for the Ninth and used a pair of ground outs and a fly out to finish off the O's.

Everett finished up 2-for-2 with a RBI, while Sanchez was 1-for-2 as a replacement, knocking in a pair. Mike Gonzales was also 2-for-2 with a walk as well, but did not factor into the scoring.

The Twins take on the GCL Reds at the City of Sarasota Complex on Friday. They return home on Saturday for a morning game with the Red Sox.

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DSL Twins 2 at DSL White Sox 3

W: L. Teis (6-1, 1.58); L: A. Salcedo (1-3, 2.55); SV: J. Rojas (5)
HR: None.

After being shut out for seven innings, the DSL Twins attempted a late inning rally but fell short, losing 3-2 to the DSL White Sox.

Adrian Salcedo took the start for the Twins, allowing 3 runs on 5 hits while striking out 2 over five innings. It was a quality start, unfortunately, the Twins could find little offense against the White Sox's Luis Teis, who scattered five hits over six innings to keep the Twins off the board.

Hector Eusebio took over the pitching chores for the White Sox in the top of the 7th and despite a walk to Oswaldo Arcia and a double to Jairo Rodriguez, kept the goose eggs in tact. He'd not fair so well in the 8th.

Xavier Gonzalez and Danny Santana both singled. Lesther Galvin would hit into a force out that took Gonzalez out at 3rd, but walk to Manuel Soliman loaded the bases. Yancarlo Franco's ground out scored Santana but Eliel Sierra ground out to end the inning.

The top of the ninth saw Jhonatan Arias single before a pitching change brought Juan Rojas to the mound. Rodriguez took a single off of him as would Juan Blanco to drive in Arias. But Gonzalez, Santana and Galvan all went down on strikes to end the contest.

Rodrigues, Blanco, Gonzalez and Arias were all 2-for-4, Arias with a run, Blanco with a run scored and Rodriguez with a double. Santana was 2-for-5 with a run. Arcia was 1-for-2 with a walk to round out the hitting, while Franco was 0-for-1 at the plate, but drove in one.

The DSL Twins host the DSL Indians on Friday. Start time is 10:30 AM Dominican Time, as always.

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