The Portland Sea Dogs (37-37) got past the New Hampshire Fisher Cats (30-46) 11-6 in eleven innings on Tuesday night at Delta Dental Stadium. The Sea Dogs moved to 3-4 in the second-half, they currently sit in third place, 2.5 games back of the top spot in the Eastern League Northeast Division Standings.
Sea Dogs starting pitcher Hayden Mullins spun an immaculate inning in the bottom of the third inning. It was the first immaculate inning since David Sandlin’s on July 28, 2024 in Somerset.
Portland broke the 5-5 stalemate in the top of the eleventh by putting six runs on the board. With Ahbram Liendo starting the inning on second base, Mikey Romero drove him home with an RBI double to make the score 6-5. In the next at-bat, James Tibbs III singled and then would score on a single by Allan Castro that turned out to be the game winner. A few batters later, Max Ferguson hit a sacrifice fly to score Tibbs III to increase the lead, and a wild pitch scored Castro to move the score up to 9-5. Marvin Alcantara ripped an RBI double, and Liendo followed with another RBI single which capped the big 11th inning for Portland.
New Hampshire grabbed an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first on a solo home run from Jace Bohrofen (10). Trailing 3-0 in the top of the third, Portland mounted a comeback. Liendo led off the inning with a double. After a flyout, Tibbs III worked a walk. Following Liendo swiping third base via a steal, Castro was walked to load the bases. During the next at-bat, a wild pitch brought home Liendo to trim the Fisher Cats lead to 3-1. A pitch later, Ehrhard (6) jacked a three-run home run which gave the Sea Dogs a 4-3 lead.
The Fisher Cats knotted the game up in the bottom of the sixth. Bohrofen worked a leadoff walk to start the inning. Two batters later following Bohrofen swiping second base, Eddinson Paulino lined a RBI single that scored Bohrofen. With the game tied 4-4 entering the bottom of the eighth, the Fisher Cats offense broke the tie. Charles McAdoo singled and then stole second base to start the inning. After McAdoo advanced to third on a passed ball, Cade Doughty ripped a RBI double to give New Hampshire a 5-4 lead. The Fisher Cats led by the same score entering the top of the ninth, but Portland wasn’t done yet. With one out, Tibbs III singled and later advanced to second on a walk drawn by Allan Castro. Then Zach Ehrhard was hit by a pitch to load the bases. The next batter Brooks Brannon hit a sacrifice fly that scored Tibbs III to tie the game at 5-5, and the Sea Dogs went on to use that big 11th inning to claim the road win.
Noah Song (2-1, 3.07 ERA) received the win tossing 3.0 innings of one-run (earned) ball while surrendering two hits, one walk, and tallied a strikeout. Justin Kelly (1-3, 8.36 ERA) was tagged with the loss, hurling 1.1 innings of five-run ball (all earned) while walking one and tallying one strikeout.
The Sea Dogs will continue their abbreviated road trip tomorrow July 2 at Delta Dental Stadium. First pitch is slated for 6:35 PM. Eduardo Rivera (0-1, 4.15 ERA) gets the start for Portland. Grant Rogers (1-4, 3.65 ERA) will start for New Hampshire.
All information gathered for this recap is courtesy of the Portland Sea Dogs
Featured photo is from a Portland Sea Dogs home game earlier this season
