Cats honor Braden's perfect game with a win

Originally published on SacramentoPress.com on June 6, 2010

The Sacramento River Cats beat the Tacoma Rainiers by a score of 10-2 at Raley Field behind solid pitching from starting pitcher Clay Mortensen (7-2).

In honor of Braden's perfect game on May 9, the River Cats invited his grandmother to throw out the first pitch, which sailed beautifully over home plate.

It was only fitting that the Cats were able to beat the Rainiers with solid pitching throughout the game.

Cats' starting pitcher Mortensen's only major mistake came in the top of the 2nd inning. With two outs and Rainiers' left fielder Mike Carp on second base, Matt Mangini was able to get his bat on a pitch and sail it over the right-center field wall for a two-run home run, giving Tacoma an early 2-0 lead.

It did not take long for the Cats to attack back, quickly getting their offense going against Rainiers' starting pitcher Ryan Feierabend (0-0) and having a big 2nd inning.

Feierabend started the inning by walking the first two Cats batters, designated hitter Josh Donaldson and first baseman Chris Carter. Cats' Michael Taylor was able to send Donaldson home with a one-out RBI single to left field, also advancing Carter to second base. Feierabend then walked catcher Anthony Recker to load the bases with only one out.

Shortstop Michael Affronti took advantage with a double off the left field wall to send home both Carter and Taylor, leaving Recker on third. Corey Wimberley then brought Recker home and advanced Affronti to third with an RBI single to left. With Eric Sogard batting, Feierabend committed a balk, scoring Affronti and advancing Wimberley to second. The sixth and final run of the inning came when Wimberley stole third base and then advanced to home plate on a throwing error by Rainiers' catcher Guillermo Quiroz.

Mortensen's only other scare came in the top of the 5th inning when he had the bases loaded with only one out. Mortensen was then able to strike out Rainiers' Brad Nelson and then get former River Cat Tommy Everidge to pop out to left fielder Matt Watson.

Already up by a score of 7-2 in the bottom of the 5th inning, the Cats were able to add one more run with a Matt Watson solo home run, and two more runs in the bottom of the 8th inning.

Mortensen finished with 7.0 innings of solid pitching, allowing just two runs before pitcher Marcus McBeth came in as relief. McBeth did not allow a run in two innings en route to closing the game for a River Cats win by a score of 10-2.