Surkamp Stymies Sea Dogs, Squirrels Win 7-2

After allowing 3 straight singles to start the ballgame, Richmond starter Eric Surkamp calmed down and went to work. The lanky lefty would only give up 2 more hits over the rest of his 6-inning outing, as the Flying Squirrel won 7-2 to take 2 of 3 from the Sea Dogs.

Portland starter Alex Wilson made quick work of the first two batters of the game, getting Justin Christian to fly out and striking out Charlie Culberson. The third out proved harder to get, as he gave up 3 straight singles to give Richmond an early 1-0 lead.

The Sea Dogs answered with a run of their own in the bottom of the first, as the first three batters all singled, as Jeremy Hazelbaker scored to tie the game at 1-1. Hazelbaker would be the only Sea Dog to get another hit until the 6th inning.

After a 1-2-3 inning in the second, Wilson ran into trouble in the third. He walked Christian to lead-off the inning. With Culberson batting, Christian would steal 2nd, and then score from 2nd on a wild pitch. Culberson then walked and stole 2nd. Johnny Monell then hit a single past a diving Jorge Padron at 1st to score Culberson. Two batters later, Monell would score on sacrifice fly by Drew Biery. It was 4-1 Richmond with Wilson looking anything but dominant.

Wilson would settle down in his final two innings, giving up only a double to Monell in the fifth inning.

Richmond would add to their lead in the sixth inning off reliever Jeremy Kehrt. Nick Noonan singled to left with one out, then scored on a double by Sharlon Schoop. Schoop would move to 3rd on a wild throw from Vladimir Frias to home. Aaron Lowenstein then hit a sac bunt down the 1st base line to plate Schoop, making it 6-1 Flying Squirrels. Ryan Lormand hit a 2-out double, but Frias made a nice running grab of a grounder up the middle and fired to first to get Christian out and prevent another run.

Culberson would round out the Richmond scoring in the seventh inning, hitting a lead-off Home Run over the outfield wall in left-center off of Kehrt.

For good measure the Sea Dogs would score a run in the bottom of the ninth to make it interesting. Chih-Hsien Chiang hit a lead-off triple that barely stayed in the yard. He would score two batters on a Jon Hee RBI groundout to finalize the 7-2 score.

Surkamp was the story of this game. In 6 innings, he gave up only 1 run on 5 hits, with 6 strikeouts and only 1 walk. He held the Sea Dogs 5-9 hitters in check, as they went 0 for 11 with 3 K's with Surkamp pitching. The Giants prospect improved his record to 4-3, and lowered his ERA to a whopping 1.88.

Wilson fell to 5-4 on the season. In a tough outing for him, he gave up 4 runs on 5 hits, with 2 walks and 2 strikeouts.

Monell proved to be tough out for Portland pitchers, as he went 3-4 with 2 runs scored. He reached base in all 5 plate appearances, as he reached on an error in the seventh and a walk in the ninth.

Will Middlebrooks had a rough night for the Sea Dogs. The usual starting 3B was the DH for this game, and was 0 for 4 with 3 strikeouts. Frias was the only batter 5-9 for Portland to reach base, with a single in the eighth. The bottom of the lineup went 1 for 18.

The Sea Dogs now start a 3-game series against the Bowie Baysox, the Double-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles. It will be ht only time Bowie comes to Portland this season.
-WIL KRAMLICH-

Fife Fires Away in Sea Dogs 6-0 Win

The right arm of Stephen Fife grounded the Richmond Flying Squirrels in the opener of a three-game set at Hadlock. The Portland starter pitched himself out of a first inning jam and held Richmond hitless until the 7th inning. The Sea Dogs offense hit 3 Home Runs in support of Fife, as they blanked Richmond 6-0.

POST GAME AUDIO

Fife found himself in trouble early on, as an error and a walk put two men on with one out. A fielders choice put Jose Flores at 3rd, but Chih-Hsien Chiang made a sliding catch in right field to retire the side.

Chiang would then show that his bat is as good as his glove, sending a 2-run Homer over the wall in center to give Portland an early 2-0 lead. It was Chiang's 10th round-tripper of the year.

Fife settled down in the second inning, getting Nick Noonan to fly out to left before striking out Ryan Lormand and Skyler Stromsmoe back-to-back. Fife would also strike out back-to-back batters in the third.

In the bottom of the third the Sea Dogs bats would strike again. After Jon Hee and Jeremy Hazelbaker both struck out, Alex Hassan hit his 5th Home Run of the season, this one over the Monster.

The Flying Squirrels would get a man on in the fourth, but Fife would not be the one at fault. With two outs in the inning Justin Christian hit a grounder to 3rd, and Will Middlebrooks rushed the throw, sailing it over Jorge Padron's head at 1st. Fife got the next batter to ground out to keep the no-hitter intact.

Padron would give Fife even more breathing room in the fifth, homering over the wall in right after a lead-off single by Oscar Tejeda. Padron's 4th homer of the year made it 5-0 Sea Dogs.

Richmond finally got to Fife in the seventh inning. After Roger Kieschnick flew out to deep center, Christian stepped to the plate, having already killed the no-hitter twice. He would not be denied again, slicing a single over a leaping Middlebrooks to end the night for Fife. He hit the showers after allowing only 1 hit in 6 1/3 innings, striking out 7 and walking 1. Kyle Fernandes came on in relief and got the next two batters out to preserve Fife's shutout.

The Sea Dogs would add one more run in the bottom of the eighth, just for good measure. Hazelbaker led off with a single, and moved to 2nd when Hassan was hit by a pitch. Hazelbaker would score three batters later on a bloop single by Middlebrooks.

Eammon Portice struck out the side for the Sea Dogs in the ninth to end the game.

Fife improved his record to 6-3, lowering his ERA to 2.94 in the process.

Clayton Tanner fell to 1-6 on the year, going 4 1/3 innings, giving up 5 runs on 6 hits with all the runs coming on home runs. He struck out 3, walked 1, and had a balk.

Chiang hit a Home Run for a 4th straight game, tying the club record that Josh Reddick set in 2009.

Between the 5th and 7th innings the Sea Dogs struck out 7 straight times. The first 5 were from Henry Sosa, which were the only 5 batters he faced.

In Sea Dogs-Red Sox affiliate notes, Tommy Hottovy's #21 jersey was placed on the front of the sky box as a former Sea Dogs who made it to the Red Sox. He joins the likes of Kevin Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia, and Jacoby Ellsbury.
-WIL KRAMLICH-


POST GAME AUDIO
Sea Dogs Pitcher Stephen Fife

Manager Kevin Boles

#PortlandSeaDogs drop tough on to Squirrels 3 - 2 #redsox #sblog #milb

OFFICIAL SEA DOGS GAME WRAP
Last Friday, the Portland Sea Dogs had their way with Clayton Tanner, lighting him up for eight runs in three innings. This Friday, it was Tanner who got the upper hand. The Richmond starter allowed one unearned run in six and two-thirds innings, as the Flying Squirrels opened the three-game series with a 3-2 win at The Diamond.

After a scoreless first inning, the Flying Squirrels got on the board in the bottom of the second. With two outs,

Rizzo Clears the Pavilion, but #PortlandSeaDogs Fall

The Richmond Flying Squirrels (56-57) scored a franchise record 16 runs as they smoked the Portland Sea Dogs 16-8 Sunday afternoon at Hadlock Field in front of 6,804 fans.

The Sea Dogs opened the game with three straight base runners reaching base, scoring twice off Richmond starter Craig Westcott. Che-Hsuan Lin led off with a walk and scored on a Nate Spears double. Spears would score when Anthony Rizzo lined a single to right, giving the Sea Dogs the 2-1 lead.

The lead would be short lived as the Sea Dogs would allow a season high 16 runs as Richmond exploded for 18 hits including eight doubles and two home runs.

The Flying Squirrels would bat around in the third inning scoring six runs. Back-to-back doubles by Ryan Lormand and Darren Ford would tie the game at two. Nick Noonan’s two run homer gave Richmond the 4-2 lead and they never looked back as they pummeled the Sea Dogs. Richmond would put up crooked numbers scoring 15 runs over three innings; six runs in the third, four in the fourth and five in the fifth.

Portland starter Stephen Fife (6-4) would not get out of the fourth inning yielding 11 runs on 13 hits in 3.1 innings, the most allowed by a Portland starter this season.

Portland reliever Eammon Portice would not fair much better surrendering five runs on four hits in 2.2 innings including a three run homer to Sharlon Schoop in the fifth inning.

Schoop, Ford, and Neal would all collect four hits on the day for Richmond. Schoop knocked in six runs and Ford crossed the plate four times in the Richmond route.

Richmond starter Westcott (3-1) earned the win firing 5.1 innings allowing five runs on five hits.

Anthony Rizzo added a three run bomb over the U.S. Cellular Pavilion in right field in the fifth inning, his team leading 14th of the season. Rizzo was 4-for-5 on the day with four RBI.

The Portland Sea Dogs will have an off day on Monday. The team will embark on a six game road trip with stops in Bowie, Maryland and Richmond, Virginia. Sea Dogs righty Kyle Weiland (5-7, 4.40) gets the nod for Sea Dogs Tuesday night 7:05 against the Baysox from Prince George’s Stadium in Bowie, Maryland. The Baysox will send righty Steve Johnson (7-6, 5.22) to the hill. The Sea Dogs return to Hadlock Field for a six game homestand August 17th through August 22nd against the Altoona Curve and Trenton Thunder.

Notes: Rizzo becomes the second Sea Dogs player to hit a home run over the U.S. Cellular Pavilion. Eric Crozier was the first to accomplish the feat in 2007.

Box Score and Recap

Audio Recap

--SEA DOGS COMMUNICATIONS--