Late Surge Not Enough in 7-5 Loss
Reading, PA - The Portland Sea Dogs (29-28) sputtered on offense late as they fell to the Reading Fightin Phils (25-33) 7-3 on Tuesday night. Caden Rose hit his first home run of the year. Franklin Arias, Brooks Brannon and Johanfran Garcia all had multi-hit games, with Arias and Brannon’s
Reading, PA - The Portland Sea Dogs (29-28) sputtered on offense late as they fell to the Reading Fightin Phils (25-33) 7-3 on Tuesday night.
Caden Rose hit his first home run of the year. Franklin Arias, Brooks Brannon and Johanfran Garcia all had multi-hit games, with Arias and Brannon’s three hits apiece leading all batters on both teams. For Arias, it was his 20th multi-hit game of the season.
Portland started hot with three hits, one walk and a sacrifice fly in the first inning to take a 3-0 lead. Arias singled, Will Turner walked, Brannon hit a ground-rule double, and Garcia hit an RBI single. Marvin Alcantara was responsible for the sacrifice fly.
Reading bounced back in the bottom half with a pair of walks and a single. The leadoff batter Bryan Rincon came around to score, cutting the deficit to 3-1.
RHP Patrick Halligan came out of the bullpen to close out the third inning. In the fourth, he loaded the bases, and gave up a grand slam to Caleb Ricketts. One of the runs was unearned, as Erick Brito had reached on an error, and Reading took the lead, 5-3.
Portland loaded the bases on two outs in the top of the eighth, but a groundout to the shortstop ended the inning, stranding all three runners.
The Fightins added some insurance runs in the bottom half. Caleb Ricketts left the yard for the second time on the night with a two-run homer. Aroon Escobar scored as well, and Reading led 7-3.
Down to the final three outs, Caden Rose hit a leadoff solo homer, his first of the season. Ahbram Liendo walked and Franklin Arias doubled, putting runners on second and third with no outs. Turner struck out and Baez grounded out, bringing home Liendo to score. Brooks Brannon grounded out to end the ballgame, and the Sea Dogs fell 7-5.
RHP Jean Cabrera (2-2, 10.07 ERA) earned the win, allowing three runs on six hits with two walks and three strikeouts in 5.2 inning pitched. RHP Patrick Halligan (1-2, 5.70 ERA) shouldered the loss, giving up four runs, three earned, all on a grand slam, with one strikeout. RHP Alex McFarlane recorded his sixth save of the season.
Tomorrow, RHP Blake Wehunt (2-3, 3.45 ERA) will start for Portland, while RHP Braydon Tucker (5-3, 1.24 ERA) will be on the mound for Reading. First pitch is scheduled for 7:00 pm at FirstEnergy Stadium.