The Portland Sea Dogs rallied from a 7-1 fourth inning deficit on Tuesday night, and picked up a 9-8 come from behind win over the New Hampshire Fisher Cats at Hadlock Field in Portland.
After the teams traded a single run in the first inning, New Hampshire (10-20) looked as if they had taken control with two in the third and four more in the fourth to make it a 7-1 ballgame. Portland (19-12) started their rally with a two-run homer by Tate Matheny in the bottom of the fourth inning, and then a solo homer by Tanner Nishioka and a Triston Casas RBI single in the fifth to cut it to 7-5. The homeruns by Matheny and Nishioka were the first of the season for both. Joey Meneses gave the Sea Dogs their first lead with a two out, three-run homerun to centerfield in the seventh. The Fisher Cats came back to even it 8-8 when Austin Martin knocked an RBI single to center in the eighth. In the bottom half of that eighth inning, Matheny led off with a single and then the next batter Ryan Fitzgerald provided the game winner with a double to right that scored Matheny. Jose Adames then struck out the side in the top of the ninth for his league leading ninth save of the season. The teams combined for 27 hits in the contest.
Andrew Politi struggled in his start on the mound for Portland getting a no decision allowing seven runs (six earned) on eight hits with three walks and five strikeouts in 3.1 innings. Tyler Olson (2-0) picked up the win in relief. Grant Williams had three hits, while Casas, Matheny, Maneses, and Fitzgerald had two each in the victory. Curtis Taylor (2-2) was tagged with the loss in relief of starter Maximo Castillo for New Hampshire. Martin, Samad Taylor, Gabriel Moreno, LJ Talley, and Kevin Vicuna had a pair of hits each to lead the Fisher Cats offense. Game two of the six game series is Wednesday night at 6 p.m. The Sea Dogs currently sit in second place, 1.5 games behind the first place Somerset Patriots (NY Yankees) in the Double A Northeast Division.
