Sea Dogs Out-FOXed by Senators 4-1

For the second night in a row the Sea Dogs starting pitcher had a solid outing. For the second night in a row that pitcher earned little run support in a losing effort. For the second night in a row the Harrisburg Senators beat the Sea Dogs 4-1. Adam Fox drove in all 4 runs and Daniel Rosenbaum dominated for 7 innings for Harrisburg.

Matt Rusch's second start of the season for Portland was much better than his first. After giving up 6 runs in 5 1/3 innings in his debut after being acquired from the independent leagues, the righty adjusted to the Double-A game. Three straight hits from the Senators in the second inning was the only real blemish for Rusch, but that was enough to give Harrisburg a lead they would never surrender. Archie Gilbert and Fox sandwiched singles around Tim Pahuta's double, with Fox's single driving in the first 2 runners.

The Sea Dogs would get one of those runs back in the bottom of the second. Reynaldo Rodriguez doubled on a dropping liner past LF Gilbert to lead off the inning. He would move to 2nd when Mark Wagner flied out to right. He would then score on a wild pitch with Dan Butler to give Portland its only run of the game in a most unconventional of ways.

Rosenbaum was both efficient and filthy in his 7 innings of work. He didn't allow multiple base runners until the seventh, when Alex Hassan and Rodriguez had back to back singles to lead off the inning. Rosenbaum would get out of the jam as expected, getting a fly out and a line out before setting Mitch Dening down swinging for his 8th and final strikeout.

Fox would strike again off Michael Lee in the top of the seventh inning. He smacked a 2-run home run just over the leaping arm of Jeremy Hazelbaker in center field. It was only his 4th home run of the season, and his 4 RBIs increased his season total to 19.


Rosenbaum improved to 3-0 in 4 starts in Double-A. His ERA dropped slightly to 1.37, as he has shown no signs of growing pains yet.

Hassan Pena pitched a scoreless ninth for his 8th save of the year. He allowed a lead-off single to Oscar Tejeda and had a strikeout.

Rusch pitched 6 solid innings, giving up 2 runs on 4 hits. He struck out 3 and walked 1, but a pitch count of 103 after 6 innings did him in.

The two teams face off in the series finale tomorrow at noon. Jeremy Kehrt takes the mound for the Sea Dogs and will face former major leaguer Oliver Perez for Harrisburg.