Portland 0 -3-0Hartford 5-10-0WP: Rico Garcia (1-1)LP: Matt Kent (5-6)T- 2:24A- 6,850
Portland 0 -3-0
Hartford 5-10-0
WP: Rico Garcia (1-1)
LP: Matt Kent (5-6)
T- 2:24
A- 6,850
HARTFORD- With his dad and family members in attendance to watch his Dunkin' Donuts Park debut, Rico Garcia turned in a stellar outing to help pitch the Hartford Yard Goats to a 5-0 win over the Portland Sea Dogs Saturday night, before a capacity crowd of 6,850. It was Hartford's 27th sellout of the season. Garcia, a Honolulu native, did not permit a runner to reach third base, hurling six scoreless innings, allowing three hits, walking two and striking out seven to notch his first AA win in his second start. Relievers Logan Cozart and Matt Pierpont closed out the contest with three perfect innings, as the Yard Goats snapped a four-game losing streak.
Hartford (42-44) jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning against Portland starter Matt Kent, on an RBI double by Sam Hilliard and a two-run bloop single down the right field line by Dom Nuñez. All the runs scored after two were out. The Yard Goats added single runs in the fourth and eighth innings, on RBI-singles by Mylz Jones and Brandon Bednar.
Nunez had two hits and two RBI and Jones and Hilliard each had two hits and an RBI to pace Hartford's 10-hit attack. Kent allowed four runs on eight hits in six innings of work for Portland (34-52), the Red Sox affiliate, to absorb the loss.
The series and homestand wrap up Sunday afternoon at 1:05. RHP Jesus Tinoco will pitch for the Yard Goats against RHP Mike Shawaryn for Portland. The game will be televised on Vantage Sportsnet, broadcast on AM 1410 WPOP and streamed on newsradio1410.iheart.com and MiLB.com.
