Tavarez Gives Sea Dogs 5-4 Win with 9th Inning Homer

Aneury Tavarez led off the bottom of the ninth inning with a walk-off home run and the Sea Dogs defeated the Harrisburg Senators 5-4 on Thursday night at Hadlock Field. The win is the fifth straight at Hadlock Field by Portland and their eighth walk-off in their last 12 home wins.

Madison Younginer (5-4) earned the win for the Sea Dogs, allowing one earned run on two hits in three innings of relief. Gilberto Mendez (4-3) was the losing pitcher for Harrisburg.

Portland scored the game's first run in the bottom of the first inning when Carlos Asuaje scored on a wild pitch by Harrisburg starter Austin Voth.  

The Senators responded quickly the next half inning off of William Cuevas. After Drew Vettleson and Pedro Severino hit back-to-back singles to lead off the inning, Derrick Robinson was able to drive in both runners with a two-run single. Wilmer Difo then reached on a fielder's choice and stole second base, and Chris Bostick drove him in with a two-out single to make it 3-1 Senators.

The Sea Dogs put runners on first and second with one out in the bottom of the second, but the skies opened up and the game would enter a rain delay that would last one hour and 38 minutes. Once play resumed, Keury De La Cruz scored on a wild pitch by Dakota Bacus to cut the Harrisburg lead to 3-2.

The Sea Dogs took the lead in the sixth on an RBI single by De La Cruz and a sac fly by Dustin Lawley to make it 4-3. The Senators would tie it up at four in the seventh off of Younginer on an RBI single.

The series continues tomorrow evening, first pitch is scheduled for 7:00 PM. Justin Haley (4-11, 5.38) gets the start for Portland against Matt Purke (0-1, 16.20) for Harrisburg. Tickets are still available and can be purchased by phone at 207-879-9500 or online at seadogs.com.