[Originally published at Twins Fan From Afar]

The New Britain Rock Cats lost a close game this afternoon, 2-1, to the Portland Sea Dogs. This was a pitcher's duel, to be sure. Starter Steve Hirschfeld pitched 7 strong innings for the Rock Cats, striking out 7 and walking none, to lower his ERA to 1.06. He surrendered just three hits. Blake Martin struck out 2 in a scoreless 8th. Luis Perdomo blew the save after allowing two walks and a double in the 9th, and then lost the game when, after intentionally walking the next batter, he gave up a walk-off single.

Offensively, the Rock Cats tallied only 3 hits all afternoon. Mark Dolenc, Aaron Hicks and Pedro Florimon constituted all the offense today, and the only run of the game came on a wild pitch in the first inning.

One interesting thing: It's been several days since Alex Wimmers pitched for New Britain. His last -- and only -- start was on April 9th. He pitched just under 5 innings, and was solid. He didn't appear to leave the game with any injury. But there have been 9 games since then. Here is who started for New Britain since Wimmers' last appearance:

Luke French

Andrew Albers

Jason Marquis

Steve Hirschfeld

Logan Darnell

Luke French

Andrew Albers

David Bromberg

Steve Hirschfeld

I was already beginning to get concerned, and then this very topic came up on the TwinsDaily discussion board, so I thought it would be worthwhile to at least mention that Wimmers has been absent from 9 games now. Was this related to Marquis getting work in with the Rock Cats? Who knows. I'll update if I find anything out when I go to tomorrow's game.

[update: That was quick. Thanks to Seth Stohs at TwinsDaily, we now know that Wimmers has a sore back and a slight flexor strain, and will miss at least a couple starts. Thanks, Seth!]

I am going to ignore the Wimmers thing because I choose to not panic about the entire pitching personnel throughout the whole organization at the moment . . .

But, sorry, have De Los Santos and Dolenc at the top of the lineup coming to the plate the most is not going to produce as many wins as otherwise. I was taken aback when I saw the lineup. I would probably go with Hicks and Florimon at the top.

I was wondering the same thing>?

IT was Wimmers turn last night, he did not pitch, nor is he scheduled tonight....

could we have another aOhh ohh on our hands? Please be 100% Healthy Alex!