Sunday Pitcher's Duel

On a beautiful Sunday afternoon at Hadlock Field the stage was set for a classic pitcher's duel as Portland's top hurler, Jon Paplebon, faced off against Felipe Liriano, the top prospect on the New Britain roster. This was a matchup that I'd been looking forward to all weekend, as I love to watch good pitching. The duo didn't disappoint, either, as each of them was pitching a shutout heading into the bottom of the second inning.

Then all hell broke loose. When all was said and done, Papelbon gave up seven runs (4 earned) in six innings pitched. While the Rock Cats did scratch out some infield hits and Papelbon wasn't helped by his defense, it wasn't a vintage performance. New Britain was making solid contact and hitting the ball deep of Papelbon all afternoon, taking advantage of Portland's miscues to pile up the runs. Still it turns out that the Portland ace was in line for a win before Mark Deschesnes came on in the 9th and surrendered four runs on four hits and two walks. Perhaps the worst performances for each of these pitchers this season. For his part, Liriano allowed six runs (five earned) on seven hits in five innings pitched. This was not what we expected. New Britain averted a weekend sweep with a 12-9 victory.

Scorer's notes:

• Liriano has a live arm, throwing his fastball in the 94-95 mph range and topping out at 97. He throws a lot of fastballs and mixes in some sliders. If he had a decent straight change, he'd be real tough.
• Alex Romero, the other prospect that I profiled, didn't really show me much. He got a couple of hits, but his approach is "small ball" without superb speed. The Sea Dogs were running the basepaths aggressively and took three bases on Romero's arm (two at home). I don't think his arm is a poor one, but he's not exactly Dewey out there, either.
• Speaking of running aggressively, Stefan Bailie (not exactly a speed merchant) stole home on a pickoff throw to first base in the secon inning. This is perhaps the least expected steal of home in Sea Dogs history.
• I really need a radio to do this job. My co-scorer Colin and I were scratching our heads on scoring decisions several times during the game, especially when an error magically appeared a couple innings after it happened.
• Dustin Pedroia, who is a good fielder, uncharacteristically made a couple of E's in the game. One was a tough-luck, base stealer kicked the ball out of his glove error (this is the one that showed up later in the game). He did cover for Jared "the Wicket" Sandberg (playing first base, where he can do less harm) and make the catch on the second popup that Sandberg lost in the sun during New Britain's four-run fourth. The first one fell for an infield hit. Sandberg did hit a home run to even out his contributions on the afternoon.
• Hanley Ramirez made a tremendous play on Ben Pattee's ground ball to end the sixth inning. With James Tomlin (4-5 from the ninth spot) on first, Pattee hit a hard grounder that Ramirez made a diving stop on. Ramirez couldn't make the play at second, but threw from his rear end to get the batter out at first. Kudos to Sandberg on a nice scoop on the throw.
• Manny Delcarmen also electrified us with his high-90's stuff. He struck out four and allowed an unearned run in two innings of relief.