Cats crushed by B-Mets

New Britain 4 at Binghamton 17

W: E. Brown (3-5, 6.83); L: J. Rainville (5-6, 7.58)
HR: NBR: D. Winfree (11), B. Peterson (6). BIN: M. Carp 2 (9), E. Garcia 2 (2), R. Arroyo (1).

Oh, unhappy day! Jay Rainville got pummeled by the Binghamton Mets, allowing 11 earned runs on 10 hits (2 home runs) and 2 walks in 1.2 innings. Jason Miller and Jay Sawatski faired only slightly better in the New Britain Rock Cats worst blow out of the season.

After a turn around that saw Rainville turning in win after win, the young hurler got off to a very rough start with Eric Reed singling and Nick Evans doubling in the bottom of the 1st. Dan Murphy sacrificed in Reed for the first of many B-Mets runs. Caleb Stewart doubled to bring in Evans. Following a pop out to Mike Carp, Josh Peterson doubled in Stewart. Jose Coronado would take a walk, and Emmanuel Garcia went yard over the right field wall to bring in Peterson and Coronado. Rafael Arroyo lined out to finish the inning. If Mr. Rainville felt relieved at that point, it ws because he had no idea what was coming.

David Winfree went yard over the center field fence in the top of the 2nd to put the Rock Cats on the board. It was his 11th home run of the season.

Reed started off the 2nd with a walk then stole 2nd. He'd try to steal 3rd, but got caught by catcher Drew Butera. Evans, Murphy, and Stewart all singled to load the bags so that Carp put hit a grand slam over the right field wall. Peterson would fly out to left before Coronado doubled. Jason Miller came in from the bullpen at that point. The Sarasota, Florida, native promptly gave up back-to-back home runs to Garcia and Arroyo, then hit Reed by a pitch, probably out of frustration. Evans and Murphy both doubled before Stewart ground out to end a very brutal inning.

(Dear Mr. Manship, are you sure you want to get promoted into the middle of that mess?)

Dustin Martin took a walk in the top of the 3rd and Brock Peterson homered him in, but the Cats had a lot of cat-ching up to do.

The B-Mets would give them a bit of break though. Toby Gardenhire singled out to left. Following a fly out by Butera, Steve Tolleson doubled that put Gardenhire at 3rd. He'd be plated by Dustin Martin's ground out.

Jay Sawatski would replace Jason Miller in the bottom of the 5th. Since they hadn't scored off him yet, Stewart took a walk and Carp went yard to bring him in. Happily the B-Mets decided to give it a rest after that.

Unhappily, the Rock Cats would get Winfree to 3rd base in the top of the 6th and strand him there. They'd find little offense over the remainder of the game.

Winfree finished up 2-for-4 with a run and a run scored. Trevor Plouffe was also 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles. Peterson was 1-for-4, with a run and 2 runs scored on the yarder, but he also struck out 3 times. Tolleson had a pair of strike outs to go with his fifth inning double.

Thoroughly whipped, the Pussy Cats got on the bus, tails tucked, and headed for home, where they will host the Altoona Curve for a three-game series starting Tuesday.

(Monday they'll be playing poker to see which one of their unlucky lot gets to pitch, since it appears that anyone who gets on the mound up there is going to get lit up.)

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B-Mets
Rock Cats
Courant

Rochester 4 at Lehigh Valley 5

W: M. Childers (3-2, 3.38); L: B. Korecky (3-2, 3.26)
HR: ROC: R. Ruiz (7).

Randy Ruiz seventh home run of the season was not enough for the Rochester Red Wings to overcome the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs Sunday afternoon.

The Red Wings put 14 hits on the board to Lehigh's 10, but it's the runs that count, not the hits.

Ruiz opened up the top of the 4th by going yard. Following a pair of outs, Sergio Santos singled and moved to 2nd on a wild pitch by Lehigh starter Travis Blackley. Chris Basak would take a walk before Tommy Watkins' fly ball to right plated Santos.

Kevin Mulvey worked four relatively quiet innings before the Iron Pigs got started in the bottom of the 5th. With one out on the board, Jon Knott walked. John Suomi poped out before Knott stole second. Brennan King then singled out to left to score Knott.

In the bottom of the 6th, Mike Rouse singled and Brandon Watson doubled. Rich Thompson brought the pair in with a single to center field. Mike Cervanak flew out before back-to-back singles to Andy Tracy and Knott signaled the end of Mulvey's tenure on the mound. Ricky Barnett would come into get John Suomi to hit into a double play to end the inning.

With Jason Anderson on the mound for the Iron Pigs, Ruiz doubled with two outs on the board. Robert Swindle would replace Anderson, and Brian Buscher greeted him with a line drive single that scored Ruiz. Jose Morales and Santos hit back-to-back singles that scored Buscher before Chris Basak poped out to end the inning with the game tied.

Tim Lahey worked 1.1 innings for the Wings, allowing 1 hit and 2 walks while striking out 1 to take the game into the ninth. Bobby Korecky would come in to get the final two outs in the bottom of regulation gametime. Thompson would greet him with a single in the bottom of the 10th. Mike Cervenak ground into a force out which took out Thompson, but Tracy would double out to right to plate Cervanak, ending the game.

Darnell McDonald was 3-for-6 in the game. Watkins, Ruiz, Busher and Santos were all 2-for-5, Ruiz with a double, a pair of runs and a run scored on the yarder, Buscher and Santos each with a run and a RBI and Watkins with a run scored. Basak was 2-for-4 with a double.

The Red Wings offense has hit at least one home run in 11 straight games. Rochester left 17 runners on base for the second straight game. The Twins triple-A affiliate fell to a 4-14 in games played on Saturday and Sunday.

The two teams rematch Monday with Brian Duensing (2-5, 3.96) taking on Les Walrond (1-4, 3.09) in a battle of the lefties with a 7:05 start.

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Iron Pigs
Red Wings
D&C
Morning Call