Portland Drops Second Straight to Reading, 6-4

Reading, PA - The Portland Sea Dogs (29-29) fell 6-4 to the Reading Fightin Phils (26-33), their second straight loss, on Wednesday night.

Johanfran Garcia was three-for-four with two doubles and two RBI. He now has a hit in every game in June, six straight, with four multi-hit games in that span. Franklin Arias was two-for-four with a run for his second consecutive multi-hit night, putting his season total at 21 multi-hit games.

Reading struck first in the bottom of the first with Caleb Ricketts’ third home run in his previous four at bats, a three-run shot.

In the third inning, Garcia’s first double, his second hit of the night, brought home Marvin Alcantara to score, and the Sea Dogs were on the board, 3-1.

Reading added two insurance runs in the fifth inning with an Aroon Escobar RBI single and a Caleb Ricketts RBI single, extending the lead to 5-1.

Johanfran Garcia hit an RBI double for the second time on the night in the eighth inning, scoring Franklin Arias, but the Fightins bounced back to strand runners on second and third, leaving the score at 5-2.

Former Sea Dog Alex Binelas sent a solo homer to center field to add one more run to the tally for Reading in the bottom of the eighth.

The Sea Dogs added two more in the top of the ninth to cut the lead to 6-4, but stranded two runners to end the game.

Braydon Tucker (6-3, 1.26 ERA) earned the win, allowing one run on four hits, three walks, and six strikeouts through 6.0 innings of work. RHP Blake Wehunt (2-4, 4.32 ERA) was tagged with the loss, giving up seven runs on five hits while walking one and striking out four in 5.2 innings pitched.

The Sea Dogs and the Fightins are back in action tomorrow night, with LHP Dalton Rogers (0-0, 1.17 ERA) starting for Portland, and RHP Gage Wood (0-1, 2.45 ERA). Rogers leads the team in ERA and opposing batting average. First pitch is scheduled for 7:00 pm at FirstEnergy Stadium.