Sea Dogs Shutout Curve 1-0
Drake Britton, the topped ranked southpaw in the Red Sox organization by Baseball America, was not scored upon in his 5.1 innings as the starter. Britton (4-5, 3.71) earned his fourth win the season for the Dogs striking out five Curve hitters while allowing three hits. He also walked two batters.
Michael Olmsted picked up his third save for the Dogs and has been untouchable since joining Portland. Olmsted is scoreless in all seven of his outings and has struck out 19 hitters in 12 innings of work. He fired four strikeouts in his two innings Wednesday closing out the game for Portland and gave up one hit. Brock Huntzinger continued to be stellar out of the Dogs' bullpen tossing 1.2 shutout innings giving up two hits while striking out three.
A couple of hot Sea Dogs did what they do best in the first inning staking the Sea Dogs to an early 1-0 lead. Marquez Smith got the offense started with a single to right field. Smith has hit safely in 21 of the last 27 games and is hitting .324 during that stretch. Jeremy Hazelbaker followed by grounding into a force out but promptly swiped second base for a team leading 29th time. With Hazelbaker in scoring position Bryce Brentz singled to left field scoring Hazelbaker and extending his hitting streak to 11 games. Brentz has hit safely in every game he has played in for the month of August. Hazelbaker's 13 game hitting streak was snapped although he reached base for the 14th consecutive time on a dropped third strike in the Sea Dogs' eighth. Hazelbaker stole two bags on the night bringing his total to a team leading 30 stolen bases on the year and has accumulated 65 in his Sea Dogs career, good for second all-time in franchise history. He trails the top stolen base man, Julio Ramirez, by just one and matched Ramirez for the most in one game with four stolen bases earlier this season.
Former Sea Dog pitcher Kris Johnson took the loss (1-2, 2.66) but turned in a solid performance for the Altoona Curve. The Altoona lefty tossed six one run innings with the lone run coming in the first frame and fired six strikeouts while allowing five hits.
Xander Bogaerts, the second ranked prospect in the Boston Red Sox farm system, extended his hitting streak to five games with a single to left field in the Sea Dogs half of the fourth inning. Bogaerts has hit safely in each of the games he has played in since being called up to Portland from Single-A Salem on August 9th.
Travis Shaw singled in the 4th inning and has reached base safely in all 12 games he has played in for Portland. Derrik Gibson got his first start at third base at the Double-A level Wednesday going 0-for-2 on the evening but drew a walk in the 7th.
The Portland Sea Dogs will take the field one more time at Hadlock against the Altoona Curve to complete the three game series Wednesday, August 16 at 6:00 PM looking for the sweep. RHP Jeremy Kehrt (3-5, 4.05) is scheduled to start for the Sea Dogs. The Portland righty will be opposed by the number one overall pick in the 2011 First-Year Player Draft, Gerrit Cole (3-4, 3.43). The Dogs will finish the six game homestand with a three game set against the New Britain Rock Cats starting Friday the 17th. Catch all of the game action on 95.5/95.9 FM WPEI. Tickets are available at www.seadogs.com.