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Betances had a rough first inning, setting the stage for a forgettable outing. Jeremy Hazelbaker led off the bottom of the inning with a single, and then promptly stole second. Old friend Ryan Khoury, newly signed from an independent league team, then walked. Alex Hassan would ground out, scoring Hazelbaker for the games first run. Chih-Hsien Chiang walked to put runners at the corners. Khoury would score on a wild pitch with Tim Federowicz batting. After Federowicz flew out to center, Reynaldo Rodriguez would single to bring home Chiang, and it was the Sea Dogs with an early 3-0 lead.
The run support energized Huntzinger, as he struck out the side in the second, the first of three times he would strike out 3 batters in an inning. He would give up a lead-off Home Run to Jose Gil in the third, then strike out #9 hitter Jason Place, giving him 3 strikeouts in a span of 4 batters. Huntzinger then looked a little shaky, giving up a single to Ray Kruml, then walking Corban Joseph. Rob Lyerly then hit an RBI double for his first Double-A hit, closing the gap to 3-2. Huntzinger then got Cody Johnson and Bradley Suttle to strike out to end the inning. Huntzinger would also strike out 3 batters in the the fifth, ending his outing on a high note.
The Sea Dogs would pull away for good in the bottom of the third. Hassan led off with walk, as the Sea Dogs took advantage of Betances' wildness. Chiang hit a bomb to deep left-center, only to have it come up up short at the warning track for a long out. Federowicz was then hit by a pitch, putting two men on for Rodriguez. Just as he did in the first inning, the Sea Dog 1st baseman hit an RBI single, scoring Hassan. Oscar Tejeda would then hit a bloop single to shallow right field, scoring Federowicz and ending Betances short outing. Naoya Okamoto would come on in relief, and would be anything but, as Jorge Padron and Jon Hee would both pick up RBI hits. Okamoto would then get Hazelbaker to ground out, and Khoury to fly out to end the inning.
The Sea Dogs would put 2 more runs across in the fourth inning, as Federowicz lined a 2 RBI double down the left-field line with no outs.
Portland would extend the lead even further in the sixth inning, as Rodriguez and Tejeda hit Home Runs on back-to-back pitches to the same part of the park. Rodriguez's was a 3-run homer, giving him 5 RBIs on the night.
Trenton would score single runs in the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings with the game out of reach. to finalize the 13-5 score.
Huntzinger improved to 4-5 with one of his best outings of the season. In 5 innings he scattered 2 runs on 7 hits, striking out 9 while walking only 1. He threw 63 of his 97 pitches for strikes, and used all 3 of his pitches effectively.
Khoury was the only Sea Dogs batter to not record a hit, yet he might have been the happiest player after the game. After spending parts of 2008-10 in Portland, the infielder was let go by the Red Sox. He landed in the Frontier League playing for the Gateway Grizzlies, hoping to someday make it back onto a big league club's radar. It was the Red Sox that never let him out of their sight, as he is back in their possession. Khoury is grateful to be back here in Portland, where he said the post-game spread is a little better. Listen to the post-game audio below:
POST GAME AUDIO
Ryan Khoury
Brock Huntzinger
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