Hartford (AP)- The Hartford Whalers played two more against the Montreal Royals
at home today, losing the first game and salvaging the second one to avoid the
sweep. Montreal won a nail-biter in Game 1, 3-2. Hartford's rookie starter
Kevin Millwood (6-7) was pulled after struggling through two innings, allowing
3 runs, 2 of them earned. Rookie 2B Adam Riggs' fielding error proved to be the
difference in the game as Montreal won on the unearned run. Hartford reliever,
Bob Ardell, possibly making a bid to join the rotation again, pitched superbly
in replacement of Millwood. Ardell threw 7 strong innings, allowing only 2
hits and a walk while striking out 3. He did not allow a run (earned or
unearned). The Whalers lost, despite outhitting the Royals and despite the
fact that Ardell's marvelous pitching lowered his season ERA to a team-best
3.23 Riggs took full responsibility in between games, saying, "I blew it.
That's the kind of thing you're supposed to be able to overcome on the big
league level. I just blew it. The loss should be recorded as mine, Bob
deserved a win out there." Ardell responded, "That's ridiculous. We're a
team. We play, we win and we lose as a team. There's no reason we shouldn't
have been able to overcome that. None at all. 'We' blew it, not Adam."
Game 2 was another tight battle as rookie starter Brian Rose (4-1) took to the
mound to faceoff against veteran Royal Pete Harnisch (7-10). Rose went 7
innings, allowing no runs, 6 hits, and 2 walks while striking out 4. Harnisch
went 8 innings and allowed only 3 hits but made one fatal mistake-Matt
Williams' RBI single which scored Mark Whiten from second. The one earned run
was all Hartford would need as Roy Hoffman and Will Cunnane would hold and the
Whale would cruise to a remarkable 1-0 win. Despite arguably outpitching Rose,
Harnisch picked up his 10th loss of the year while Rose won his 4th start in 7
attempts and rebounded from a thrashing on his last outing against Edmonton.
Rookie closer Will Cunnane continued to shine alongside Rose, recording his
PVBL best 15th save on the season. He has only one blown save on the year.
Cunanne is tied with Richmond's Bob(?) Hamlin for the PVBL lead with 15 while
leading Whohlers of Edmonton (14) for the EL lead. After pitching a
near-perfect inning and a third, Cunnane finally lowered his ERA to an even
4.00, finally overcoming his recent thromping.
