Yard Goats Squander Late Lead and Lose in Portland

Yard Goats Squander Late Lead and Lose in Portland

Final: Portland 11, Harford 8

WP: Webb (4-0)

LP: Halvorsen (0-1)

S: Cepeda (8)

T: 3:01

Portland, Maine- The Portland Sea Dogs scored four runs in the eighth inning, and four runs in the ninth inning to come from behind to beat the Hartford Yard Goats 11-8 on Wednesday night at Hadlock Field in Portland, Maine. The Yard Goats had an 8-2 lead in the fifth inning and an 8-3 lead in the seventh inning, and dropped their second straight game to the Sea Dogs. Hartford starter Andrew Quezada pitched six innings and did not allow an earned run to lower his ERA to 2.56. Braxton Fulford had four hits and Bladimir Restituyo homered for the Yard Goats.

The Yard Goats scored the first run of the game in the first inning against Sea Dogs starter and Red Sox top pitching prospect Wikelman Gonzalez. Adael Amador drew a leadoff walk, his Eastern League leading 26^th of the season, and later scored on a grounder by Sterlin Thompson, giving Hartford a 1-0 lead. The Yard Goats added a pair of runs in the third inning on hits by Nic Kent, Amador and Fulford to make it 3-0.

The Sea Dogs made it a 3-1 game with a run in the third inning off Hartford starter Andrew Quezada. Hartford scored two runs in the fourth inning to extend the lead to 5-1. However, the Sea Dogs answered with a run in the bottom of the inning. The Yard Goats went ahead 8-2 with a three-run fifth inning highlighted by a solo homer by Bladimir Restituyo. Quezada went six innings and yielded three unearned runs on three Hartford errors.

Portland staged its comeback against the Hartford bullpen. Juan Mejia was touched for four runs on four hits in the seventh inning with the big blow, a two-run double by Kyle Teel. Seth Halvorsen came in to record the final out of the inning and the game went to the eighth inning with the Yard Goats leading 8-7. Halvorsen stayed in to start the eighth and Portland loaded the bases on a hit, walk and hit batsman. Kyle Teel tied the game with an RBI single and Matthew Lugo delivered a two-run single giving Portland a 10-8 lead.

The Yard Goats and Sea Dogs will continue their eight-game series on Thursday with a morning game at 11AM. LHP Mason Albright will start for the Yard Goats and RHP Isaac Coffey will start for Portland. The broadcast can be heard on the free audacy app and Yard Goats website starting at 10:45 AM with the pregame show. The video stream will be available on MLB.TV and MiLB.TV and the Ballys Live App.