Manchester, NH – The Portland Sea Dogs plated four runs in the top of the ninth inning to beat the New Hampshire Fisher Cats 7-6 on Saturday night at Delta Dental Stadium. The Sea Dogs improve to 10-7 on the season, while the Fisher Cats fall to 7-10. Portland remains in second place in the Northeast Division, two games behind the Somerset Patriots.
Trailing 6-3 in the top of the ninth inning, Jhonny Pereda reached on a one-out double then moved to third on a single by Grant Williams. New Hampshire pitcher Brody Rodning then threw a wild pitch allowing Pereda to score to cut the deficit to a pair. Johan Mieses pinch hit for Jeremy Rivera, and singled up the middle to put two Sea Dogs on base. Roldani Baldwin then pinch hit for Jeisson Rosario, and drilled a two-run triple to left field and the game was tied 6-6. Portland took the 7-6 lead with an RBI single by Pedro Castellanos, and held on for the win.
Frank German in his fourth start of the season for Portland, tossed 4.2 innings and allowed five runs on two hits while walking two and striking out a season-high five batters. The only two hits he gave up were home runs. He retired the first eight batters he faced until he hit a batter with a pitch in the third inning with two outs. Jake Thompson (1-0) got the win in relief. Jose Adames earned the save pitching the ninth inning with one strikeout. He now leads the Double-A Northeast League with four saves.
The Sea Dogs plated their first run in the first inning off an RBI double by Joey Meneses. Portland extended the lead in the top of the third inning after Triston Casas drove an RBI triple to centerfield. Meneses then brought Casas home with an RBI single to left field to make it 3-0.
New Hampshire got on the board in the bottom of the same inning. After retiring the first eight batters he faced, German hit Reggie Pruitt with a pitch and then Chavez Young hit a two-run homer to right field to cut it to 3-2. In the fourth inning, Samad Taylor hit a two-run blast to right centerfield and New Hampshire led for the first time 4-3. In the bottom of the fifth inning, Young came around to score on a wild pitch by German. Austin Martin then drew a walk and was able to score on an RBI single to left field by Otto Lopez to extend to a 6-3 advantage.
RHP Josh Winckowski (1-0, 1.29 ERA) will be on the mound Sunday for the Sea Dogs in the series finale at 1:35 p.m. RHP Maximo Castillo (2-1, 4.15) will make the start for the Fisher Cats.
