NEW BRITAIN, Conn. — Aaron Wilkerson had to wait a bit, but had little trouble extinguishing New Britain’s bats.
The Portland Sea Dogs right-hander allowed just two hits in five innings, and the Portland Sea Dogs beat the Rocks Cats 4-0 following a lengthy delay at New Britain Stadium stemming from a pregame event.
The game moved quickly after the start was delayed by an hour and 20 minutes because a fire engine had torn up the grass in left field during a fire fighter promotion.
The Sea Dogs (49-83) took the lead in the top of the fifth inning. Aneury Tavarez doubled and then scored two batters later on a double by Cole Sturgeon.
Portland tacked on three more runs in the top of the eighth. Jordan Weems scored on a sacrifice fly by Sam Travis. Tim Roberson and Carlos Asuaje added RBI singles.
Wilkerson (3-1) fanned six and walked two. He gave up a first-inning single to rehabbing Rockies first baseman Justin Morneau and a single to Zach Osborne in the fifth.
Madison Younginer was perfect in the sixth and seventh for the Sea Dogs while striking out two.
Kyle Martin finished the game, getting a double play to erase a leadoff walk in the eighth before running into a jam in the ninth.
The Rocks Cats (61-69) put runners on first and third with one out on Noel Cuevos’ bunt single and a fielding error by shortstop Tzu-Wei Lin.
But Martin got Jordan Patterson to fly out to left field and struck out Jan Vazquez on four pitches.
New Britain starter Brian Flemmer (7-10) pitched five innings and gave up four hits while striking out four and walking none.
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