The New Britain Rock Cats are streaking once again, as they defeat the Harrisburg Senators 3-1 on Wednesday. The Rock Cats have won their last six games in a row, 12 out of their last 13, and 17 out of their last 19, bringing the season record to 19-7. It is their third streak of five or more wins this season. New Britain sits atop the Eastern League’s Eastern Division three and half games up on the Reading Fightin Phils.
Ryan Carpenter started the game for the Rock Cats and did his part over six innings. The big lefty gave up one run on six hits with six strikeouts, walking just one. It was his second start in a row of six or more innings and his third out of his last four. The only struggles he had was in his last inning of work when he gave up back-to-back singles to Harrisburg’s Mario Lisson and Matt Skole. Shortly after Skole’s hit, they successfully attempted a double steal bring them to third and second respectively. A wild pitch by Carpenter would scratch the first run of the game across the board and prove as his only blemish on a nice outing.
The Rock Cats struggled offensively against the Senators starting pitcher Joe Ross. Ross matched Carpenter’s zeroes but allowed fewer hits with more walks and one more strikeout. It wasn’t until Harrisburg’s relief pitcher Abel De Los Santos came in the game that New Britain could get anything going.
With the scored still knotted at 1-1 in the bottom of the eighth, fielding and pitching miscues allowed the Rock Cats to get on the board and stay out front the rest of the way. New Britain would score two runs as a result of it and would go on to secure their sixth win in a row.
Austin House was handed the ball in the top of the ninth and left the only runner that made it on base in the inning (Pedro Severino who reached on an error), as he recorded his league-leading 10th save of the season. Jason Gurka, who came in for Carpenter in the seventh inning, recorded his second win of the season with two tremendous innings giving up just one hit with one strikeout.
The Rock Cats will have to wait until Friday to try and continue the streak. They head out on a six-game six-day road trip with stops in Portland and New Hampshire. Harrisburg returns home for six of their own at Metro Bank Park.
John Ginder
John has recently graduated from the University at Albany with a B.A. in History and is currently finishing his Master's Degree there as well in secondary education. After being away from school for over two decades he decided to go back and work towards his dream of becoming a social studies teacher.
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