Portland Wins Battle of the Sea With 9-5 Win

It took the Sea Dogs bats 6 innings to wake up, but once they did, they didn't stop. Portland scored 8 of their 9 runs in the final three innings to rally past Erie for a 9-5 win. The Sea Dogs took 2 of 3 games from the SeaWolves, and tied the season series up 3-3.

Oscar Tejeda opened the scoring in the second inning, as he doubled off the wall in right to score Ronald Bermudez, who reached on an error. Erie would answer back in the top of the third, as Brandon Douglas singled home Jamie Johnson.

Charlie Haeger came into into his 4th start of the year with a 2-0 record. he was unusually wild today however, as he routinely got behind the count and issued 4 walks. He also had some trouble with catcher Matt Spring, as Spring had 2 passed balls. The first one led to Erie's first run in the third, and the second nearly led to another in the fourth. The knuckleballer really ran into trouble in the sixth. After getting Rawley Bishop to line out, he gave up a triple, a walk, and RBI double, and a sac fly to give Erie a 3-1 lead. He got Carl Iorg to ground out to end the inning on his 111th pitch of the game.

The Sea Dogs couldn't figure out Erie starter Casey Crosby, as Tejeda's double was the only hit he allowed through 5 innings. They caught a break in the sixth as Crosby left with an injury after giving up a single and 2 walks to load the bases. Tyler Stohr came on in relief and got two quick outs before Matt Spring tied the game with a 2-RBI double.

Josh Fields entered the game in the seventh inning for Portland, and he had a rough go of it to start. Fields gave up a lead-off walk to Johnson and a single to Douglas to put men at the corners. Justin Henry then hit a sacrifice fly to break up the tie. Two batters later Audy Ciriaco lined a double past 3rd base to score Douglas and make it 5-3 SeaWolves. Fields would get Deik Scram to strike out looking to end the inning.

Portland would rally in the bottom of the seventh, and never look back. Tejeda and Jon Hee led off with back-to-back hits to put runners at 2nd and 3rd. Ryan Dent would run the count full before hitting a sacrifice fly, scoring Tejeda. After Ryan Khoury struck out, Alex Hassan would walk fro the second time in as many innings to load the bases. Mark Wagner then cracked a 3-2 pitch over Johnson's head in center for a 2-RBI double, giving the Sea Dogs a 6-5 lead. Rob Waite would come on to relieve Stohr and promptly gave up an RBI single to Will Middlebrooks.

After Fields got a 1-2-3 inning in the top of the eighth the Sea Dogs would tack on some insurance runs in the bottom of the inning. Bermudez reached on an error for the second time in the game to lead off. Tejeda then walked to knock out Waite. Austin Wood came in and got Hee to ground into a double play to get outs at 3rd and 1st. Dent again would draw the count full, this time taking ball four for a walk. Khoury would then walk on 4 pitches to load the bases. Hassan was the hero this time, dropping a single into no-man's land in right-center to plate 2 more runs. After 5 innings of futility, the Sea Dogs had a 9-5 lead heading into the ninth inning. Blake Maxwell came on in a non-save situation and recorded 3 quick outs to end the game.

Fields picked up the win to improve to 2-0 since the deadline deal that brought him to the Red Sox organization. he had one rough inning, and one solid inning, and was aided by 8 runs of support while pitching.

Khoury and Bermudez were the lone Sea Dogs to not record a hit, but they both scored a run.

Hassan, Wagner, and Spring each picked up 2 RBIs, and they were all with 2 outs.

The Sea Dogs get a day off tomorrow before heading to Reading. The win was their 50th of the season.