PORTLAND- Ryan Fitzgerald drove in two runs and Joey Meneses homered leading the Portland Sea Dogs to a 4-3 victory over the Hartford Yard Goats Tuesday night in the opener of a six game series at Hadlock Field.
Manny Melendez gave Hartford (18-36) the early lead with a two-run homer in the second inning off Portland starter Josh Winckowski. Triston Casas got the Sea Dogs (29-23) on the scoreboard in the third inning with an RBI single to right-center field, his 24th run knocked in on the season. Trailing 2-1 in the sixth inning, Fitzgerald connected for his second double of the game scoring two runs to give Portland the lead for good 3-2. Meneses added a solo home run in the eighth inning, his eighth of the season to extend the lead. Hartford scored a run in the ninth on a sacrifice fly from Jameson Hannah, but Zack Kelly was able to preserve the lead and pick up his second save. Winckowski (4-1) earned the win for the Sea Dogs tossing six innings holding the Yard Goats to two runs on five hits. Alex Scherff pitched a perfect eighth inning in his Double-A debut with one strikeout.
The Sea Dogs and Yard Goats will play game two of the series Wednesday night at 6:00 p.m. RHP Brayan Bello (0-0, 3.45 ERA) will start for the Sea Dogs. Hartford has not yet announced a starter.
