New Britian 5, Binghamton 2

Carlos Gutierrez pitched a gem and got timely hitting from his teammates to lead New Britain past Binghamton 5-2 at New Britain Stadium Sunday afternoon.  Gutierrez threw a season-long 7 2/3 innings and permitted just two runs on seven hits to win his first decision of 2010. The B-Mets have now lost four consecutive series.

The Rock Cats scraped across the game’s first run in the first without the benefit of a hit. Starter Scott Shaw walked speedster Ben Revere to open the frame. Revere promptly stole second, moved to third on a Mark Dolenc groundout and scored on a Shaw wild pitch to make it 1-0.

New Britain (11-30) doubled its lead with a two-out run in the fourth. Steve Singleton dropped a bloop double down the left-field line to reach. Allan de San Miguel followed with a seeing-eye single through the right side, plating Singleton to up the lead to 2-0.

Binghamton (20-22) responded in the fifth against Gutierrez, who had faced one over the minimum. Connecticut native Eric Campbell led off with a single to right and was joined on base when Gutierrez walked Carlos Guzman. Brahiam Maldonado moved both men up with a deep fly to center, putting the tying runs in scoring position. Michael Moras followed with a single into center, scoring Campbell to get the B-Mets on the board. After Hector Pellot struck out, Kirk Nieuwenhuis came to the plate and surprised the Rock Cats with a bunt. It was perfectly placed down the third base line, allowing Nieuwenhuis to reach and Guzman to score, tying the game.

The lead was short-lived, though. After getting the first out in the bottom of the fifth, Shaw loaded the bases with a pair of walks and a single and left the game in the hands of Emary Frederick. Frederick, who joined the team yesterday from St. Lucie, struck out the first man he faced, Juan Portes. However, Yangervis Solarte lined a single into center to break the 2-2 deadlock, vaulting the Rock Cats into the lead 4-2.

New Britain added another run in the sixth on a Rene Tosoni sac fly to round out the scoring.

Gutierrez finally exited the game in the eighth to a chorus of applause from the New Britain faithful. Australian righty Matt Williams replaced him. After walking the first man he faced, he retired the next four men to nail down his first save of the season.

Luis Hernandez was the only player with multiple hits. The shortstop went 2-4 with a triple, giving him three on the year. Shaw was charged with four runs over 4 1/3 innings to drop his third straight start.