Defs squander chance to pad lead; bullpen falters

and they lose 5-2 tonight to the RockCats. Connecticut would score their only runs in the first inning. Eugenio Velez in center field again walked leading off and stole second (#23). Trey Webb beat out a sac bunt for a base hit putting runners on first and third (remember that later). John Bowker brought in Velez with a sac fly for the first run of the game. Webb would move to second on a Carlos Sosa broken bat grounder and then score on Steve Holm's ground rule double to right field for a 2-0 lead.
And like Saturday's game that would be the only inning the Defs would score any runs. And like Staurday's game the outcome would be the same. New Britain pitcher Ryan Mullins settled down nicely after that one inning and end up going 7.2 IP with 5 hits allowed , 10Ks and only one walk.
Nick Pereira pitched quite well himself shutting out the RockCats in his 7 innings of work giving up just 5 hits notching 6 Ks and had 3 walks. He was helped out with two outfield assists at third from Bowker in right field.

In the 8th Taylor Wilding came on and gave up a run to make it a 2 to 1 game.

On comes Brian Anderson to close it out in the ninth.........................first or second pitch is a bunt single. Next guy gets four straight balls so he's come on and thrown 6-7 pitches and it's first and second no outs. Next batter bunts to Anderson who gets the force at third. Things go downhill quickly from there. A bloop single ties it up. A passed ball moves up both runners to second and third and a grounder goes under the shortstop's glove to score both runners making it 4-2. The final run comes in on a double for the 5-2 loss.

I know the passed ball and error didn't help but Brian Anderson just isn't a closer. The body language after those two guys got on spelled doom. That's five blown saves and a 1-3 record so far. A 1-2-3 inning for him is pretty rare. Wilding, the San Jose closer, has not been lights out in his appearances so far. Will we see Osiris Matos closing more? Is Justin Hedrick up next?

Back to that first and third and no outs deal. That's what Connecticut had in the sixth. Velez doubled and Webb beat out another sac bunt for a single. But Bowker was a K and Sosa a DP and that was the turning point in the game for me despite the bullpen coughing it up.

Misc fan notes: The team goes over the 100,000 attendance mark on the season with tonight's game. Next stop 200,000.
Fan tip: if you encounter a line at the box office, seek out Justine's window. It's always the fastest moving!