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.

Wolves Top Dogs With 4 Run Fifth

Miguel Gonzalez was having one of his best outings of the season. That is until things started to unravel in the fifth inning. The spot starter gave up 3 straight hits to start the deciding inning, ending an outing that started with 8 straight retired batters. The SeaWolves scored 4 runs on 5 hits in the inning and cruised to a 6-2 win.

The Sea Dogs offense struggled for the second time in 3 games, as L.J. Gagnier made the Dogs look foolish. After striking out 15 times on Wednesday, the Sea Dogs nearly matched that total with 14 punch outs tonight. The Sea Dogs #3 and #4 hitters, Mark Wagner and Will Middlebrooks each went 0 for 4 with 3 strikeouts.

Gagnier lasted into the sixth inning before he was taken out due to pitch count. Along the way he gave up 1 run on 3 hits, with 3 walks and 10 strikeouts. he threw 63 of his 101 pitches for strikes.

Gonzalez made the SeaWolves look just as foolish as the Sea Dogs offense through his first 3 innings. He struck out 4 of the first 6 batters he faced, then got 2 fly outs in the third before Bryan Holaday softly singled with 2 outs to break up the no-hitter. Erie finally got to Gonzalez in the fourth, as Brandon Douglas led off with a single and scored 2 batters later on an RBI groundout by Rawley Bishop. Gonzalez then got a groundout and a fly out to end the inning.

Gonzalez would not get out of a jam again in the fifth. He allowed the 7, 8, and 9 hitters to collect hits to lead off the inning, as Holaday's double scored Deik Scram for Erie's 2nd run of the night. Jeremy Kehrt came on in relief of Gonzalez, and promptly gave up a 2-RBI double to Jamie Johnson. Two batters later Justin Henry would bring home Johnson with an RBI single.

The Sea Dogs got a run back in the sixth as Gagnier began to fade. Alex Hassan led off with a triple, and scored 2 batters later on an RBI groundout by Middlebrooks. Ronald Bermudez would then draw a walk to knock Gagnier out of the game. Luis Marte came in and got Dan Butler to pop out to end the inning.

Erie would tack on another run in the seventh inning, but it could have been more. Holaday led of with a single that 2B Ryan Khoury just couldn't quite get to. Johnson then doubled to put men at 2nd and 3rd with no outs. Brandon Douglas then hit a fly ball to left field that Holaday thought was deep enough. However, Hassan's throw to home was on the mark, and Butler was able to force Holaday wide of the plate and tag him out before he could reach back towards the bag. Johnson would then score as Henry tripled to deep right-center to make it 6-1 SeaWolves.

Portland would match the lone run in the bottom of the inning as Hazelbaker led off with a double, stole 3rd easily, and scored on an RBI double by Khoury.

The game fittingly ended as Jon Hee struck out swinging on 3 pitches in the bottom of the ninth.

Gagnier improved to 4-5 on the season, and Marte picked up his 2nd save.

Gonzalez dropped to 0-4 and his ERA has now ballooned to 6.21. More importantly, he is okay after taking a line drive off his left arm by Scram in the fifth.

Gonzalez was efficient with his pitches, as 54 of his 69 pitches were strikes. 24 of those 54 strikes were fouls, as Erie batters had to fight off some quality pitches.

Hazelbaker made two nice defensive plays in his new digs in right field. In the second inning he made a leaping grab at the wall to rob Audy Ciriaco of an extra-base hit, and made a diving catch in shallow right to end the fourth inning.

game 2 of the 3-game series comes tomorrow night at 6pm. Alex Wilson will take the mound, looking for his 10th win of the season.


Sea Dogs Manager Kevin Boles