Johnson Improves to 3-0, 'Dogs Win 2-1

PORTLAND, Maine - The Portland Sea Dogs (28-15) used great pitching and a two-run fourth to topple the Binghamton Mets (24-18) 2-1 Tuesday night at Hadlock Field. The win pushes the season series to 7-4 in favor of the Sea Dogs.

The 'Dogs Brian Johnson and Mets' Darin Gorski squared off in an old-fashioned pitchers duel over the first five frames. 

Binghamton struck first for a run in the second inning against Johnson, thanks to a Dustin Lawley sacrifice fly that scored Jayce Boyd from third. From there the lefty settled into a groove and allowed a hit and a walk over his final four frames

He faced the minimum thanks to a 6-4-3 double play, which erased the single, and a caught stealing from his defense behind him. Johnson (3-0) finished his six innings and allowed the one run on four hits, a walk and six strikeouts. 

On the other side of the rubber it was Gorski (3-2) throwing up zeroes in the first three innings. Blake Swihart got the scoring going for Portland with a solo blast to left-center and tied the game at 1-1. The home run marked his fourth of the season. 

Henry Ramos was next; he collected a single and moved to third on an error by the shortstop Matt Reynolds on a ball that Heiker Meneses hit. Gorski checked on the runner at first and Ramos broke home, forcing a throwing error from the first baseman and scoring the go ahead run, which made it 2-1 in favor of Portland.

Gorski would finish five innings on the mound and gave up the two runs, one earned, on three hits a walk, hit batter, and six strikeouts. Jon Velasquez and Adam Kolarek silenced the Portland hitters over the final four innings. 

Matty Ott was first out of the Portland bullpen and pitched around three base runners in two scoreless innings before handing it over to Noe Ramirez in the ninth. Ramirez was not hampered by a leadoff two-base error and retired the final three in order to lock down his fourth save of the year. 

The Sea Dogs and Binghamton Mets continue their six-game series on Wednesday night with another doubleheader at Hadlock Field beginning at 5:00 PM. RHP Keith Couch (5-0, 2.56) gets the nod for Portland against a pitcher to be announced of the Mets. Radio coverage begins at 4:40 PM on the WPEI U.S. Cellular Sea Dogs Radio Network and www.seadogs.com. MILB.TV coverage begins at 4:55 PM.