The Portland Sea Dogs hit three homeruns on Sunday afternoon, including two from Rob Refsnyder who was on a rehab assignment on their way to a 10-7 victory over the Richmond Flying Squirrels in Double A Eastern League baseball action at Hadlock Field. Portland took five of six games in the series over Richmond.
Refsynder took the very first pitch from Richmond starter Wil Jensen in the bottom of the first inning over the fence in right centerfield for a 1-0 lead. He helped add to the lead with a two-run shot over the Maine Monster in left in the third. Alex Binelas regained the three run lead for the Sea Dogs after the Flying Squirrels had tied it 3-3, with a three-run homerun of his own in the fourth. Binelas added another RBI with a sacrifice fly in the fifth inning that made it 8-3 and turned out to be the game winner.
Binelas drove in four runs, and Refsnyder three with his two homers. Wilyer Abreu had two hits and two RBI, while Stephen Scott and Tyler Dearden also had two hits each part of a 12-hit attack. Kike Hernandez also rehabbed once again and went 0-3. Brayan Bello started on the mound and allowed one run on two hits with no walks and six strikeouts in 3.2 innings. Casey Cobb (1-0) picked up the win in just 1/3 of an inning of relief. Tyler Danish on an assignment went 1.2 innings and didn’t allow any runs on three hits with one walk and three strikeouts. Michael Gettys picked up his third save. Portland is now 24-15 in the second half of the season, leading the Eastern League Northern Division by 1.5 games in the race for a spot in the playoffs. The Sea Dogs have 30 regular season games remaining, and kicks off a six game set on the road in Reading against the Fightin’ Phillies on Tuesday night. Refsnyder and Hernandez could return and join the big club on the start of their road trip that begins in Pittsburgh on Tuesday night.
