A tale of two shut outs

New Hampshire 6 at New Britain 1

W: R. Ray (3-0, 0.78); L: J. Manship (0-2, 5.40)
HR: None.

Once again, the New Britain Rock Cats proved to the New Britain declawed cats, as they managed only 5 hits against New Hampshire's Rob Ray.

Sure Rob Ray's a good pitcher, but the recently promoted FSL hurler looked unstoppable as he worked 9 innings of shut out baseball, allowing only 5 hits and fanning 10.

Scott Campbell doubled off former Miracle Jeff Manship to start off the proceedings. Aaron Mathews singled to move him to 3rd before Travis Snider was called out on strikes. J.P. Arencibia singled to score Campbell, putting the Fisher Cats on the board.

Manship catches on quick however and set on to to work 6 innings, allowing only 2 more hits the entire time and going on to fan 4 more, for a total of 5.

Jason Miller would take over in the 7th, but it was in the 8th that New Hampshire rocked him. Ryan Klosterman doubled. J-Mill then hit Campbell with a pitch. A throwing error on the pick off attempt moved the pair of runners to 2nd and 3rd. Mathews line drive out to left plated the pair. Snider drew a walk, and Arencibia singled out to center to score Mathews before Brian Jeroloman was taken out on strikes. Eric Nelsen then flew out before former Miracle Kyle Phillips doubled to drive in 2 more.

Felix Molina was 2-for-3 while Steve Tolleson, Brock Peterson and Danny Valencia were all one hit wonders, Tolleson with three (3!) strike outs on the side.

The Rickity Cats will try to find some offense against New Hampshire on Wednesday night at 6:35 PM as the series continues at New Britain Stadium. Left Ryan Mullins (6-5, 3.47) will throw out the first pitch. New Hampshire counters with southpaw Brett Cecil (2-1, 3.59)

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NB Herald

Rochester 0 at Louisville 8

W: M. Maloney (7-4, 4.55); L: B. Duensing (4-7, 4.10)
HR: LOU: A. Rosales 2 (4).

The Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory is located in Louisville Kentucky, and so the Rochester Red Wings evidently felt they did not need to bring bats with them, they could just buy new ones at the gift shop.

Unfortunately, the Wings have yet to take a tour. Rochester was shut out by the Louisville Bats' Matt Maloney and two relievers, managing - much like their Double A affiliate - only 5 hits in the contest. Meanwhile the Bats wasted little time breaking out their sluggers against Rochester starter Brian Duensing.

Jerry Hairston doubled to get things started off for the home town team and Andy Green followed him onto base with a single that served to plate Hairston. Following a ground out to Drew Anderson and a fly out to Aaron Herr, Ryan Hanigan walked putting two runners on. Adam Rosales then slugged his 3rd home run over the left field wall to give the Bats a 4 run lead.

In the bottom of the 6th Anderson singled with one out on the board. A wild pitch moved him to 2nd, just in time for Aaron Herr to double him in. Following a ground out to Harigan, Rolases put his second home run ball of the night over the left field fence, making it 7-0 Bats.

With Julio DePaula on the mound in the bottom of the 8th, Chris Dickerson would double with two outs on the board. Jerry Gil drew a walk before Luis Boilvar's line drive scored Dickerson.

Randy Ruiz was 1-for-4 at the plate with a double, while Darnell McDonald, Garrett Jones, Trevor Plouffe and Ryan Jorgensen all shared the one hit wonder title.

The two teams play at 12:05 game Wednesday and one can only hope that the Wings send someone out to buy them some bats early Wednesday morning. Lefty Adam Pettyjon (7-1, 4.48) will throw out the first pitch, while southpaw Francisco Liriano (3-2, 4.14) will counter for the Wings.

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Extra Bases Blog

The Red Wings starting pitchers have struggled the last five games; in 24.2 innings of work, the starters have allowed 24 runs (22 earned) on 36 hits, while walking four and striking out 18.

The Wings were blanked for the seventh time this season.

Rookie LHP Mariano Gomez has been a bright spot out of the Rochester bullpen, with a 2-1 record with one save and a 1.99 ERA in 31 games. Gomez has not allowed a run in 22 of his 31 appearances, and has allowed just two of his 12 inherited runners to score.

Former Twins and Wings right-hander Juan Rincon signed a Minor League deal with the Cleveland Indians on Tuesday, and will report to Buffalo later this week.

From a bit of mail in the Extra Bases blog: "They started out a couple guys (Aaron Hicks, et al) at Ft Myers (in the GCL) who could/should be in Elizabethtown or maybe even Beloit." I love people who have naver seen these kids play sit there and make these assessments. Hicks is currently hitting 3 for 10 with a walk and one run in three games. This qualifies him for Elizabethton? Beloit? The world is full of GMs who have never seen a single game. Oh - I know - maybe they could call him up to Rochester so he could help the Wings! There you go. And take Ladendorf and his .231 average with along as well.