Phillies Win on Ninth Inning Homer

Portland, Maine-Miguel Abreu smacked a home run in the ninth inning off Aaron Kurcz to lift the Reading Phillies (14-6) to a 5-4 win over the Portland Sea Dogs (6-16) at Hadlock Field on Friday night. The number two proved to be a lucky number for the 'Dogs in the second inning. Bryce Brentz started a two-out rally with a double and scored on Reynaldo Rodriguez's double down the left-field line. Heiker Meneses gave Portland a 2-0 lead with a bloop-single to right. The Phillies came right back, scoring three runs off Stolmy Pimentel in the third inning. Tyson Gillies, Darin Ruf and Steve Susdorf added RBI singles to give Reading a 3-2 lead. Brentz came through again for Portland in fourth inning, nailing a double off the right-center field wall, and scored on Dan Butler's single to center field to tie the score at three. Juan Carlos Linares snapped the 3-3 tie with his team leading fourth home run in the bottom of the sixth off Julio Rodriguez, giving the Sea Dogs a 4-3 lead. Reading tied the score in the eighth when Susdorf singled to score Ruf. Pimentel took a no-decision in his season debut, tying a Double-A high with seven strikeouts over five innings on seven hits and three runs (two earned). Brock Huntzinger made his first relief appearance of the year tossing two no-hit innings. Kurcz (0-2) took the loss surrendering two runs on four hits in two inning of relief including the game winning home run to Abreu in the ninth. Jeremy Hazelbaker went 2-for-3 extending his hit streak to nine games. Rodriguez extended his on base streak to 15 straight games with a second inning double. Red Sox pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka is scheduled to make a rehab start for the Portland Sea Dogs on Saturday at 1:00 PM against the Reading Phillies at Hadlock Field. The Phillies will send righty Jonathan Pettibone (1-2, 4.24) to the mound.