The Portland Sea Dogs swept a doubleheader on Friday evening, taking down the New Hampshire Fisher Cats in a pair of seven inning games at Delta Dental Stadium in Manchester, New Hampshire in Double A baseball action.
In game one- Portland scored three times in the fourth inning to take a 3-0 lead and never trailed as part of a 6-2 win. Matthew Lugo drew a bases loaded walk, and Eli Marrero had a two-run single for the Sea Dogs. New Hampshire cut it to 3-2 in the bottom half of the inning on a Rainer Nunez solo homerun, and an RBI double by Steward Berroa. The guests put it away on a Corey Rosier RBI double in the sixth, and then a Phillip Sikes run scoring single and a Rosier RBI groundout in the seventh. Lugo had two hits in the victory, while Rosier and Marrero had two RBI a piece. Grant Gambrell (2-2) got the win on the mound allowing two runs on six hits with two walks and five strikeouts in 5.0 innings of work. Jimmy Robbins (3-6) suffered the pitching loss for the Fisher Cats allowing three runs (none earned) on three hits in 4.0 innings.
In game two- Portland scored four times in the ninth to take the sweep with a 7-3 win in extra innings. The Sea Dogs were trailing 2-1 in their last at bat in the seventh with one out, but would force extras when Sikes scored from third on a wild pitch. Nathan Hickey had given the guests the lead 3-2 in the eighth with an RBI single, but a wild pitch on ball four scored a run for New Hampshire in the bottom half to keep the game going. Sikes had the game winner in the top of the ninth inning on an RBI sacrifice fly. Portland added some insurance after that on a Marcelo Mayer RBI double, and then two runs scored on a wild pitch and a throwing error on the same play. Joe Jones (1-0) earned the win in relief, while Adrian Hernandez (1-2) took the loss for the Fisher Cats. The Sea Dogs are now 3-0 in the second half of the Eastern League season (43-29 overall), and will continue their six game series with New Hampshire (0-3, 35-36) on Saturday night at 7:05.
At Rogers Centre in Toronto on Friday night, James Paxton shut down the Toronto Blue Jays over 7.2 scoreless innings as the Boston Red Sox ended a five game losing streak with a 5-0 win.
Boston (41-42) got all they needed when Justin Turner led off the fifth inning with a solo homerun off Toronto starter Jose Berrios for a 1-0 lead. In the sixth, Connor Wong led off with a double and Jarren Duran hit a two-run homer to center to extend the advantage. With one out and the bases empty in the same frame, Masataka Yoshida homered to make it 4-0. Meanwhile, Paxton was dominant on the hill allowing just three hits walking two and striking out seven improving to 4-1 on the season. Yoshida had three hits. Berrios (8-6) took the loss for the Blue Jays giving up four runs on five hits with no walks and eight strikeouts in 6.0 innings. Toronto is now 45-38. Game two of the three game series is Saturday afternoon at 3:07. RHP Kutter Crawford (2-4, 4.01 ERA) takes the ball for the Sox, against LHP Yusei Kikuchi (7-2, 3.75) for the Jays.
Story by Chris Lessner
