13 not lucky for Portland lose 3-2 in Connecticut!
RHP Chad Rhoades (4-1) suffered his first loss of the season, retiring the first batter in the 13th but yielded three consecutive singles. RHP Mike Musgrave (3-0) worked a scoreless top of the 13th to earn the win for Connecticut. The Defenders used 8 pitchers, who allowed just one unearned run over 13 frames.
DH Sharlon Scoop was responsible for the long night, tying the game off RHP T.J. Large in the bottom of the ninth inning with a sac-fly. Large blew his first save of the year and surrendered one hit over 2 frames. RHP Jarod Plummer was solid over six innings, giving up only one run and recording a Double-A career-high in strikeouts with 8. LHP Dustin Richardson worked two scoreless frames on hit and a walk.
Connecticut's only hit (1-for-12) with runners-in-scoring position came on Martinez-Esteve's single. Portland went 1-for-14 with RISP and stranded 14 runners. 2B Ryan Khoury tied the game at one in the third inning with an RBI single off starter RHP Henry Sosa. The Defenders scored the game's first run on a sacrifice fly by DH Adam Witter.
Portland took a 2-1 lead in the eighth inning with two outs. RHP Waldis Joaquin relieved LHP Matt Yourkin and uncorked a wild pitch, enabling 3B Jorge Jimenez (3-for-5) to score the go-ahead run. The Sea Dogs stranded 7 runners from the ninth inning on and fall to 16-18 on the road.
Portland and Connecticut wrap up their series on Thursday night at Dodd Stadium beginning at 6:35 PM. LHP Kason Gabbard makes his second start of the season for Portland against LHP Madison Bumgarner. Catch all the action on the U.S. Cellular Sea Dogs Radio Network beginning at 6:05 PM with the CorrectDeck Pre-Game Show.
Notes...Plummer's strikeout total was the most since July 14, 2006 when he fanned 11...The previous longest game for the Sea Dogs was on April 16, 2008 vs. Connecticut at Hadlock Field which took 5 hours and 41 minutes...Portland received 2 hits from SS Argenis Diaz.