Linares, Sea Dogs Down B-Mets 5-3

Portland, Maine- Juan Carlos Linares hit his first professional home run as the Portland Sea Dogs defeated the Binghamton Mets 5-3 Thursday evening at Hadlock Field before 6,252 fans. The Sea Dogs (66-71) take three out four from the Mets (65-72) and the season series 11 games to nine.

Jorge Padron hit a two run double in the bottom of the third scoring Nate Spears and Luis Exposito to give the Sea Dogs a 2-1 lead.

Binghamton came right back with two runs in the top of the fourth with a two run homer off the bat of Raul Reyes giving the lead back to Binghamton 3-2.

The Binghamton lead was short lived as well, as in the bottom half of the fourth Linares homered to tie the game at three. A Nate Spears sacrifice fly scoring Che-Hsuan Lin gave Portland the 4-3 lead and they never looked back. Linares would add a RBI single in the fifth to cap the Portland scoring.

Blake Maxwell improved to 7-0 with the Sea Dogs and 10-1 on the season with stops in Single-A Salem, Double-A Portland, and Triple-A Pawtucket. Maxwell tossed 5.2 innings allowing three runs on nine hits. Maxwell walked one batter and struck out four.

Daniel Turpen tossed 2.1 innings of scoreless relief and Jason Rice tossed a perfect ninth to earn his team leading 13th save of the season.

Eddie Kunz (7-8) suffers the loss for Binghamton yielding five runs on eight hits in 4.1 innings. He walked three and struck out two batters.

The Sea Dogs will begin their final series of the 2010 season on Friday night at 7:00 PM against the New Hampshire Fisher Cats (Blue Jays). Kyle Weiland (5-9) will get the start for Portland. He'll be opposed by Zach Stewart (7-7) for the Fisher Cats. The Sea Dogs will wear teal uniforms Friday night commemorating their 1995 season. Additionally, anyone named Earl, is entitled to a complimentary ticket to the game.