NEW BRITAIN, Conn. – The Portland Sea Dogs’ offense continued to hibernate Saturday night.

After the New Britain Rock Cats’ bullpen set down the final 15 hitters Friday night, starter David Bromberg and two relievers continued the domination.

Bromberg tossed five innings and the bullpen extended Portland’s scoreless streak to 13 as the Rock Cats evened the weekend series with a 5-0 victory before a sellout crowd of 6,681 at New Britain Stadium.

The Sea Dogs (8-21), who have lost five of their last six games, managed just four hits, two by Ronald Bermudez that didn’t leave the infield. They have gone out in order in 10 of their last 13 innings.

Bromberg (1-0, 5.29 ERA) yielded three hits, walked one and struck out five. Caleb Thielbar and Luis Perdomo slammed the door with four innings of one-hit ball.

“He had fastball command, he was able to use a mix, he had a feel for his breaking ball and he was able to keep us off balance,” Portland Manager Kevin Boles said.

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“It wasn’t so much (bad at-bats) as it was the quality of the pitching. You’ve got to tip your hat to Bromberg and the bullpen.”

New Britain posted two in the second inning against left-hander Chris Hernandez (1-2, 1.99).

Aaron Hicks reached on an infield hit, stole second and moved to third on a grounder to third. After Danny Lehmann drew a walk, Estarlin de los Santos raked a two-run, first-pitch triple off the center-field wall.

Hernandez yielded two hits in five innings. He walked three and struck out three.

“He pitched well,” Boles said. “De los Santos got a pitch he could hit early in the count. Other than that he did a nice job. He got behind in the count a couple of times but he kept us in the game.”

Bromberg stymied the Sea Dogs’ offense, picking up where the bullpen left off Friday night.

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After the first inning, 18 straight Portland hitters had been retired. Reynaldo Rodriguez doubled to start the second but Bromberg set down the next eight.

With two outs in the fifth, Rock Cats pitching had retired 29 of the previous 30 hitters when Bermudez snapped the streak with a bunt single. Dan Butler followed with a double and Ryan Dent walked to load the bases, but Derrik Gibson went down swinging. Gibson hasn’t had a hit in his last 24 at-bats.

The Rock Cats (18-11) pulled away against reliever Brock Huntzinger in the sixth.

Even a sprawling catch by right fielder Juan Carlos Linares and a diving stop at first by Rodriguez couldn’t keep New Britain from scoring three runs. A double by Chris Colabello, and RBI singles by Nate Hanson and Lehmann were the big hits.

NOTES: Today’s pitching probables are Portland right-hander Billy Buckner (0-2, 4.50) vs. New Britain right-hander B.J. Hermsen (0-0, 1.29).

 


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