The Result
Rock Cats - 3 runs to 2

The Curve - Year-to-Date
63 won and 47 lost

Brett's Position and the Batting Order
Playing - Designated hitter
Batting - #3

At the end of the Game
1 hit from 4 at-bats - single, 1 x run scored, 1 x strike out, 1 x stolen base

Brett's at-bats
First at-bat
Lefthanded pitcher
Bases empty - two down
Called strike
Ball - low
Foul ball - back
Foul ball - back to the net
"There's a liner out into rightfield by Roneberg ...... and Brett is continuing his 'hot' hitting!!!"
Single to rightfield
Stole to second base!!! ...... on a lefthanded pitcher!!! - and I did not hear this!!! - radio problems!!! - it is Brett's sixth stolen base of the season
Scored on a hit
Second at-bat
Lefthanded pitcher
Runner at first base - one down
"That's a ground ball hit towards the Rock Cats second-baseman and he gathers the ball and throws to second base for the out ...... but Roneberg beat it out down the line to avoid the double play and to keep the innings alive"
Ground out to second base - safe at first base on a fielder's choice play
Advanced to second base on an infield single
Left stranded at the end of the innings
Third at-bat
Righthanded pitcher
Bases empty - two down
Ball - downstairs
Ball - downstairs
Ball - low
Called strike/Foul ball - ??? - not broadcasted
Called strike
"And Brett swings and misses on what looked to be a very nice curve ball"
Strike out
Fourth at-bat
Righthanded pitcher
Led off the innings
Ball - outside
Ball - outside
"Brett drives that very well into leftfield!!! ...... but the fielder is backing up and is able to make the catch for the first out of the innings"
Fly out to leftfield - F7

Heard during the Game

(#01) As Brett came in for his first at-bat, the commentator mentioned - "Brett Roneberg now steps to the plate and he has been 'very hot' with the stick recently ...... over his last fifteen games he is batting 21-for-51 for an average of 0.412 ...... and he has driven in fourteen runs during his last seven games"

(#03) During Brett's second at-bat, the commentator said - "Coming in to tonight's game, Brett was sixth in the Eastern League with a batting average of 0.297"

Email from Brett

Game Reports

Curve starter Jason Roach turned in a valiant effort, but fell short of earning his seventh win of the year as Altoona fell to the New Britain Rock Cats 3-2 on Saturday night at Blair County Ballpark

The game was played before a crowd of 8,836, the largest regular season attendance this year and the sixth largest crowd in franchise history

Roach pitched 6-1/3 innings and allowed just two earned runs to go along with five strikeouts, but still was tagged with his third loss of the season

The right-hander was dominant through the first six innings, surrendering just one unearned run on three hits, but unraveled in the seventh, giving up four consecutive singles
The last of the four hits, off of the bat of Denard Span, pushed across the eventual game-winning run and marked the last batter that Roach would face in the game

The Curve would place the potential tying run just ninety feet from home in the bottom of the ninth when Nyjer Morgan ripped a two-out triple down the left field line
However, Vic Buttler’s hard hit ground ball was handled by the New Britain third baseman for the final out

The Curve grabbed an early 1-0 lead when Brett Roneberg singled and stole second base in the first inning, before being driven in by a Dave Parrish double

After the Rock Cats tied the game on an unearned run in the second inning, the Curve regained the advantage with a single tally in the third

The lead would last until New Britain finally put together a rally in the seventh

Right-hander Tristan Crawford earned the victory, pitching two scoreless frames out of the bullpen in relief of Glen Perkins
Perkins lasted just four innings, scattering seven hits and allowing two runs

Brian Bixler finished the game a perfect 3-for-3 and reached base all four times he came to plate, including being hit by a pitch in his eighth-inning at-bat

The Curve outhit the Rock Cats eleven to eight, but left nine runners on base and lost for just the sixteenth time in fifty-two home games this year

The two teams will play the rubber match of their three-game set on Sunday at 6.05pm
Landon Jacobsen will make a bid for his league-leading thirteenth victory against New Britain’s Adam Harben

Seventh inning singles by Jose Morales and Denard Span propelled New Britain to a 3-2 win over Altoona on Saturday at Blair County Ballpark

The Rock Cats (48-62) played small ball to rally for two runs in the seventh
Morales tied the ballgame, 2-2, by driving in Matt Tolbert with a base hit up the middle before Span's single plated Felix Molina with the go-ahead run

Span went 2-for-3 out of the leadoff spot for New Britain, and Morales added two hits

Reliever Tristan Crawford (3-4) tossed two scoreless innings, striking out three while giving up two hits for the victory

Levale Speigner tossed 1-1/3 innings for his thirteenth save

A crowd of 8,836 fans, Altoona's biggest of the season and sixth-largest of all-time, saw the Curve (63-46) take the lead in the first when David Parrish ripped a two-out double to right to score Brett Roneberg

Brian Bixler went a perfect 3-for-3 with a double, and David Parrish and leadoff man Nyjer Morgan added two hits apiece
Morgan had an RBI triple in the third

Starter Jason Roach (6-3) gave up three runs - two earned - on seven hits and two walks while fanning five batters in 6-1/3 innings

Curve starter Jason Roach handed the ball to his manager, Tim Leiper, removed his cap and walked briskly off the field, his head lowered

“I just told him, ‘I hate coming out of the game losing, you know; it’s a bad feeling’” Roach said
“I was standing there on the mound, I guess, reflecting on what had just happened”

Roach was referring to the four consecutive singles - none of them hit with very much authority - that New Britain strung together in the seventh inning to ruin what had otherwise been a stellar outing by the right-hander
The late rally propelled the Rock Cats to a 3-2 victory over Altoona before 8,836 fans at Blair County Ballpark on Saturday night

“You can’t defend against bloop base hits and stuff like that” Curve catcher Dave Parrish said
“Those are things that happen throughout the course of the game
That’s why baseball is a frustrating sport sometimes”

Roach seemed to have everything under control as he peered in for Parrish’s sign with one out in the seventh and Altoona leading, 2-1
The veteran hurler had retired eleven of his previous twelve batters on an assortment of fly balls and grounders when he dug in to face Matt Tolbert, who was 0-for-2 at the point

“I felt pretty good” Roach said
“I was just trying to keep the ball down and just let them hit the ball”

The switch-hitting Tolbert then looped the ball the opposite way into shallow left-center, with another switch-hitter, Felix Molina, waiting on-deck
Yet another lurked next on the New Britain lineup card in Jose Morales
Both were hitting much better against right-handers than southpaws

“That’s irrelevant; that has nothing to do with the way we lost” Leiper said when asked if he wished he had a lefty in his bullpen he could summon
“No, I think if you look at Roach’s numbers, they’re probably pretty good against left-handed hitters”

Molina lifted a flare close to where Tolbert’s ball landed, and Morales followed with a bouncer up the middle that leveled the score at two
The left-handed Denard Span then slapped yet another blooper into left-center, giving the Rock Cats their only lead of the game

The last hit knocked Roach (6-3) out of the game with a line of three runs allowed - two earned - on seven hits and a walk in 6-1/3 innings
Roach struck out five

“He pitched his tail off, but in the seventh inning, the ball just got up in the zone” Leiper said
“People get hits like that when the ball gets elevated
If the balls are down, they become ground balls”

The Curve mounted a ninth-inning comeback attempt when Nyjer Morgan lined a two-out shot that rattled around the New Britain bullpen mound in the left field corner
Morgan churned around the bases and slid into third base well ahead of the throw
Vic Buttler grounded out to end the game, however, drawing scattered jeers from the regular-season-high crowd

“The crowd’s going to react the way they do” Buttler said
“We’ll deal with it, no matter if it’s a cheer or if it’s a boo”

Altoona grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Parrish’s two-out double down the right field line scored Brett Roneberg

Parrish has batted .329 (25-for-76) in his last twenty-one games, and Leiper bumped him up to the cleanup spot for just the second time this season on Saturday

“I’m ready to go wherever Leip wants me to be at” Parrish said
“I typically haven’t hit fourth in my career, but it didn’t make me feel uncomfortable or anything at the plate just because I was hitting in the fourth spot
I just approached it like I would if I was hitting sixth or ninth or whatever”

The Rock Cats tied the game in the third when Roach slung a low throw on a one-out bunt attempt under first baseman Simon Pond’s glove for an error
This allowed a runner to dash all the way home from second base to knot the score at 1-1

Javier Guzman tripled leading off the bottom half of the frame and Morgan then chased him home with a grounder up the middle for a 2-1 Curve lead

Tristan Crawford (3-4) earned the win with two innings of scoreless relief, and Levale Speigner picked up his thirteenth save by blanking Altoona over the final 1-1/3 innings

A two-run seventh inning lifted the Rock Cats to a 3-2 victory over the Curve Saturday night in Altoona, Pa

The Curve (63-47) got on the board in the first, as Brett Roneberg scored on David Parrish's double

The Rock Cats (48-62) got their first run in the third, when Denard Span scored after Trent Oeltjen hit a sacrifice bunt and Jason Roach (6-3) committed a throwing error

Altoona took a 2-1 lead in the third when Javier Guzman tripled and scored on a single by Nyjer Morgan

Tristan Crawford (3-4) pitched two innings in relief for the win

Levale Speigner got his thirteenth save