The Portland Sea Dogs, after opening their season last week with a home three game sweep over the Binghamton Rumble Ponies at Hadlock Field, took to the road for the first time on Tuesday night and defeated the New Hampshire Fisher Cats 9-7 in Double A Eastern League baseball action at Delta Dental Stadium in Manchester, NH in the opener of a six game series.
After the teams swapped a run in the first inning, New Hampshire (3-1) took their only lead of the night when Steward Berroa hit an RBI sacrifice fly in the bottom of the second. Portland (4-0) took the lead for good on a two-run single by Matthew Lugo in the third. The Sea Dogs scored four more times in the fifth inning on an RBI single by Niko Kavadas, a two-run double by Lugo, and an RBI double by Alex Binelas to make it 7-2. The guests held off a late rally by the Fisher Cats, scoring the eventual game winning run on a wild pitch that scored Ceddanne Rafaela in the sixth.
Lugo, Binelas, and Stephen Scott had two hits each for Portland in the win. Lugo led all hitters in the game with four RBI, and Scott had two. Rio Gomez (1-0) picked up the victory in relief of starter Wyatt Olds on the mound. Olds allowed two runs on one hit but walked five in 1.2 innings. Gomez was perfect in 2.1 innings striking out six. Luis Guerrero pitched the ninth and got his second save. Luis De Los Santos and Berroa each had two hits and two RBI for New Hampshire (Toronto Blue Jays), and starter Adam Kloffenstein (0-1) took the loss on the hill allowing six runs (four earned) on five hits in 4.0 innings. The series continues Wednesday night with Sterling Sharp taking to the mound for the Sea Dogs against Sam Robberse for the Fisher Cats. Portland is coming off a 75-63 season in 2022, winning the Northern Division second half to make the postseason before falling to the Somerset Patriots in the league semifinals.
Recap by Chris Lessner
