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Six straight Altoona hitters reached base and the Curve batted around to hang a 7-4 defeat on the Rock Cats Tuesday morning before a capacity crowd of 6,194 on Baseball in Education Day at New Britain Stadium.
The Rock Cats (24-34) have now dropped seven of their last 10 games.
Ample support from the offense and defense supported Pridie’s effort. He allowed the first runner to reach in both the third and fourth innings but the double-play ball bailed him out. He had a two-hitter heading into the seventh when the Curve (31-30) struck.
A leadoff walk to Chris Duffy became a run when Shawn Garrett singled and Brett Roneberg drilled a hanging curve off the right field wall for an RBI double.
Pridie (2-6) fueled his own demise when he lobbed his throw to third instead of firing on Josh Bonifay’s tapper to the mound. Manager Stan Cliburn felt the play was pivotal.
"When you’re pitching a shutout into the seventh, you can’t leadoff walk a guy and you’ve got to be able to get an out on a ground ball back to the pitcher," he said. "Throwing the ball to a base is just fundamental baseball and you’ve got to do it to win."
Josh Bonifay reached on the fielder’s choice and the bases were loaded. Ray Navarrete (2-for-4, 3 RBI) ripped a two-run single up the middle to tie the game.
"I gave (Pridie) the benefit of the doubt," Cliburn said. "Maybe after the bad play on the comebacker I should have taken him out but I want him to start winning for us."
Victor Moreno came on and Chris Heintz greeted him rudely with a two-run double. Heintz scored on a single by B.J. Barns and Altoona had matched its most productive inning of the season in grabbing a 6-3 lead.
The Rock Cats’ ninth-inning rally fell a hit or two short. Kevin West cracked a one-out double, then pinch hits by Terry Tiffee and Brian Baron produced a run. A single by Rob Bowen loaded the bases but Jason Bartlett and Josh Renick struck out to end the game.
"It looked pretty good with Bartlett coming up and the bases loaded," Cliburn said. "He just missed the first pitch and fouled it straight back. That would have been a good time for his first home run."
Altoona starter Tom Fordham retired the first seven hitters but the eighth was big trouble. Ryan Owens crushed the first pitch and sent it on a majestic arc over the wall in right center.
Sizzling Bowen (2-for-4) followed by lining a double inside the bag at third. Bowen, who has hit .429 since May 17 when he was batting .164, took third on Bartlett’s grounder to the right side. Renick delivered a clutch two-out single and New Britain led 2-0.
The Rock Cats staged a two-out rally in the fourth when successive singles by West (2-for-4, 2 runs), Juan Lorenzo and Owens (2-for-3, 2 RBI) produced a run.
Altoona reliever Mike Johnston (3-1) pitched three hitless innings of middle relief to earn the win.
Pridie yielded five hits and was charged with four earned runs in his 6 1/3 innings of work. Moreno, on his 24th birthday, was tagged for five hits and two runs in 1 2/3 frames. Josmir Romero pitched a perfect ninth.
CATS TALES: Justin Morneau was promoted to the Twins late Sunday to replace injured infielder Chris Gomez. Morneau will split time with a host of other ex-Cats -- Doug Mientkiewicz at first base, and Matt LeCroy and Bobby Kielty at DH. ..The Twins signed former White Sox all-star hurler James Baldwin and assigned him to Triple-A Rochester. ..The Twins’ high-A club, the Fort Myers Miracle, have clinched the championship of the first half in the Florida State League’s West Division.
Ken Lipshez can be reached at klipshez@newbritainherald.com or by calling (860) 225-4601 ext. 222.
