MLN Newswire - www.mlntherawfeed.com-New Britain, CT – Frank Mata turned in a solid start, but was out-dueled by Garrett Broshuis as the Defenders downed the Rock Cats, 3-0 on a soggy Tuesday night. The Defenders increased their lead in the Northern Division and now sit ahead of the second-place Rock Cats by six games.

Broshuis (1-0) scattered six hits over 6 2/3 shutout innings in a game that was delayed for nearly an hour after storms passed through before game time.

Mata, who was serving as a spot starter for the Rock Cats, retired the only three batters he faced in the first inning. The Defenders broke through in the second, though, with a leadoff single by Bobby Felmy and a walk by Eddy Martinez-Esteve. Mata managed to force a double play groundout by Brad Boyer, but Felmy moved up to third on the play. Felmy then scored on Adam Witter’s single to second base.
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Whit Robbins gave the Rock Cats an opportunity to match the Defenders in the bottom of the second with a one-out triple off the center field wall, but he was left stranded on base after Yancarlos Ortiz struck out and Toby Gardenhire grounded out to third to end the inning.

The Defenders struck for two more runs off of reliever Kyle Waldrop in the sixth, including an RBI sacrifice fly off the bat of Boyer that scored Felmy.

Mata (1-2) finished with one run on four hits through five innings to come away with the hard-luck loss. The Defenders’ Dan Otero tossed 1 1/3 scoreless innings in relief to pick up his 16^thsave.

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