Cats fall, Wings win

Binghamton 3 at New Britain 2

W: E. Brown (4-5, 6.53); L: Z. Ward (2-2, 3.05); SV: T. Lavigne (5)
HR: BIN: R. Arroyo (2).

Jay Rainville worked six innings, limiting Binghamton to 1 run on 4 hits and 2 walks while striking out six. Unfortunately, his bullpen gave up a pair more, and the New Britain Rock Cats could only squeeze two runs out of the B-Mets.

Dustin Martin and Felix Molina hit back-to-back singles to get the Rock Cats started in the bottom of the first. Brock Peterson took a walk, and Erik Lis would hit a sac-fly to drive in Martin. (Funny, he couldn't do that when Boles was managing him...)

The Cats had plenty of scoring opportunities. Martin would make it to third base in the bottom of the 3rd, but Peterson would be taken out on strikes to leave him stranded. Toby Gardenhire's force out and a pair of walks got Gardenhire to 3rd in the bottom of the fifth, but Peterson ground out, stranding the runners with the bases load.

In the top of the sixth, Rafael Arroyo went yard off Rainville, over the center field wall, to put the B-Mets on the board. Lis would double for New Britain in the bottom of the stanza but never got past 3rd as Drew Butera ground out to end the inning.

Yohan Pino would replace Rainville in the top of the 7th. Recently activated off the disable list, he would allow a single to Caleb Stewart. Josh Peterson ground into a force out then moved to 2nd on Jonathan Malo's ground out. Emmanual Garcia then doubled Peterson in.

The Cats would respond in the bottom of the 8th with Lis and David Winfree both singling. A Matt Moses ground out advanced the runners, and Butera would sacrifice in Lis to tie up the game.

Zach Ward would come in to close the game in the 10th inning, but gave up a walk to Jose Coronado. Following a strike out to Nick Evans, Mike Carp singled to push Coronado to 3rd. Caleb Stewart's sac-fly would plate him for the game winning run.

Molina and Lis were both 2-for-4, Lis with a run, a run scored and a double, the only extra base hit for the Rock Cats.

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The Cats were playing a little short handed after sending Trevor Plouffe and Jeff Christy up to AAA Rochester. They would receive catcher Rocky Palacios from Fort Myers in return.

LEN3 is reporting that Jeff Manship, Danny Valencia and Brian Dinkelman as well as either Rob Delaney or Anthony Slama (but not both) will be moved to AA following the Florida State League All-star game on Saturday. My initial reaction was that catcher Wilson Ramos would go as well, but in retrospect, I believe the Twins would rather have him stay in Fort Myers as the main catcher, then go up to AA to back up Butera. After all, the goal is to develop the players, and they are not developing when they are sitting on the bench.

Palacios was 0-for-4 in his first AA game.

Durham 0 at Rochester 1

W: C. Cali (4-0, 2.73); L: J. Salas (3-3, 3.15); SV: B. Korecky (7)
HR: None.

Darnell McDonald would single in the bottom of the sixth inning, steal 2nd and 3rd and come home on a Garrett Jones blooper for the lone run in the contest as the Rochester Red Wings topped the Durham Bulls, 1-0.

Jones was 2-for-4, the only player with multiple hits, although both Randy Ruiz and Chris Barak would double.

Kevin Mulvey worked only 4 innings, giving up 1 hit and 1 walks while striking out 7. Carmen Cali picked up the win, working 3 innings, allowing 1 hit and striking out 3. Bobby Korecky picked up this 7th save of the season.

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The Minnesota Twins have signed outfielder Aaron Hicks, their first round pick (14th overall) in the 2008 First-Year Player Draft. Hicks, who is a switch-hitter and throws righthanded, batted .473 (44-for-134) with 12 doubles, five triples, 50 runs scored, 37 walks, four home runs, 23 rbi and 37 stolen bases in 34 games. The righthander also had a record of 8-2, 1.16 (72.1 ip, 12 er) with 112 strikeouts and a batting average against of .157 (41-for-261) as a senior for Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach, California. Hicks has been assigned to the Rookie level Gulf Coast League Twins.

Twins right fielder Michael Cuddyer left Friday night's game against the Brewers in the second inning after being hit in the right hand by a pitch.

Not unexpectedly, right-hander Juan Rincon has rejected the Twins' offer to assign him outright to Triple-A Rochester.

Fans going to the Florida State League All-star game might want to go a little early and watch the Space Shuttle as it comes in for a landing at nearby Cape Canaveral at 11:15 AM.

Former Miracle Kevin Slowey worked 8 innings, allowing only 2 runs on 5 hits while fanning 5 as the Twins defeated the Brewers, 10-2. Fort Myers alumni Alex Casilla, Joe Mauer and Jason Kubel were all 2-for-5 in the game. Casilla accounted for 3 RBIs, while Kubel hit a single shot home run, his ninth of the season, in the eighth inning.