TRENTON, N.J. — For the first time in seven appearances for three Colorado Rockies minor league teams, New Britain relief pitcher Chad Zurat of Clearfield surrendered a run when Trenton’s Jake Skole socked a two-run homer with no outs in the eighth inning at Arm & Hammer Park Thursday night.
Zurat had strung together 10.2 scoreless innings for Grand Junction in the Pioneer Rookie League, Boise in the Class A Short Season Northwest League and New Britain, including one in his debut with the Rock Cats Tuesday night.
He walked the first batter he faced before Skole gave the crowd of 4,394 hope of a Thunder comeback win, but his long ball only set the final at 8-6 as the Rock Cats (67-69) extended their winning streak to six, the longest in the Eastern League.
Zurat then induced two groundouts around a flyout.
For the season, Zurat (4-3) has appeared in 19 games with a 4.00 earned run average for 45 innings pitched. He has 17 strikeouts with 17 walks and three hit batsmen.
