Sea Dogs lose 4-2, Alex Wilson pitches well, Jose Iglesias returns.

IGLESIAS WENT 1 - 5 IN HIS RETURN TO PORTLAND

OFFICIAL SEA DOGS GAME WRAP

 Jose Iglesias made his long awaited return to the Portland lineup, however, it was not enough as the Altoona scored four unanswered runs to defeat the Sea Dogs 4-2 before 6,588 at Hadlock Field on Tuesday night.

After scoring a run in each of the first two innings, Portland saw their bats stymied by the Altoona bullpen.  The combination of Michael Colla, Anthony Claggett and Daniel Moskos held the offense scoreless and allowed just two hits over the games’ final six innings.

Iglesias went 1-for-5 in his first Double-A action since May, and looked sharp in the field as he made the start at shortstop.


Ray Chang smacked his ninth homer of the season, a solo shot off Altoona starter Tony Watson, to get the scoring started in the first.  Then, in the second, Nate Spears came around to score on a two out single by Che-Hsuan Lin to give Portland the early 2-0 lead.

Watson was lifted after just three innings of work, allowing two runs on six hits with three walks and two strikeouts.

For Portland, Alex Wilson took the hill and enjoyed one of his finer starts in a Sea Dogs uniform, as he held Altoona scoreless through the first three frames.

Altoona would strike back though, with two runs off of Wilson in the fourth to tie the game 2-2.  Josh Harrison got things started for the Curve with a bunt single to third base, before advancing to second on a throwing error by Wilson on a pickoff attempt.  Jordy Mercer doubled to center field to score Harrison.  The next batter, Hector Gimenez would then single to right-center field to bring in Mercer with the tying run.

A bunt single in the top of the fifth would again lead to an Altoona run, this time it was Jose De Los Santos whose bunt down the third base line resulted in a single.  After a swipe of second base, De Los Santos would come home with the go-ahead run on a Jim Negrych single, 3-2 Altoona.

Wilson would settle back in after allowing the three runs to work a perfect sixth before being lifted for Mitch Herold in the seventh.  In his six innings of work, Wilson (3-4) allowed just the three runs on five hits; he walked one batter and struck out three as he picked up the tough loss.

Herold was unable to hold the deficit to one, as he allowed Altoona to grab an insurance run in the seventh after Herold uncorked a wild pitch allowing Miles Durham to score to make it a 4-2 Altoona advantage.

Colla (1-0) earned the win, as he set the tone for Altoona tossing 3.0 scoreless innings allowing just one hit and three walks in relief of Watson.

Again, Portland would struggle to plate the key run when they needed it most, leaving 14 runners on base by collecting just the Lin RBI single (1-for-13) with runners in scoring position.

With runners on first and third and the winning run at the plate in the ninth, Moskos would get Nate Spears to groundout to second to earn his 19th save of the season.

The Sea Dogs (68-63) and Curve (70-51) will get back at it with a game tomorrow night at 7:00 PM at Hadlock Field.  Lefthander Jeff Locke (1-1, 3.71) will take the ball for Altoona opposite Portland righty Blake Maxwell (4-0, 2.08).