Portland Drops Third Straight in Somerset

Bridgewater Township, New Jersey – The rain fell while the Portland Sea Dogs (31-18) lost 9-7 to Somerset (28-20) on Friday night. Ceddanne Rafaela finished the night three-for-four with a home run and a pair of singles while Nick Yorke extended his on-base streak to 14 games with a walk.

In the top of the first inning, Portland executed a double steal as Marcelo Mayer stole second to record his first stolen base of his Double-A career while Ceddanne Rafaela (21) stole home and Portland took the 1-0 lead.

Austin Wells hit a ground-rule double to bring two runs in to score in the bottom of the inning before coming home to score on a two-run home run by Tyler Hardman. A throwing error allowed another run to score before a sacrifice fly by Aaron Palensky capped off the six-run inning.

Ceddanne Rafaela hit his fourth home run of the season in the top of the fifth to cut the lead in half. With his two-run blast to center field, Portland trailed 6-3.

An RBI single by Anthony Seigler in the bottom of the fifth extended the 7-3 Somerset lead.

With one out in the bottom of the sixth and rain falling, the game took a brief thirty-one minute delay for weather.

Somerset extended their lead 9-3 with a two-run home run by Caleb Durbin in the bottom of the seventh.

Chase Meidroth hit a two-run double in the top of the eighth before an RBI single by Matthew Lugo scored Meidroth and Portland was within three.

Ceddanne Rafaela shrunk the Somerset lead to 9-7 with a sacrifice fly in the top of the ninth.

Somerset starter RHP Blane Abeyta (3-3, 6.44 ERA) earned the win after pitching 6.0 innings allowing three runs on five hits while walking one and striking out seven. RHP Danny Watson (1) was awarded the save after pitching 1.0 scoreless inning allowing just one hit. He did not issue a walk. Portland starter RHP Wyatt Olds (0-2, 8.72 ERA) was issued the loss after pitching 0.1 innings allowing six runs on three hits while walking three.

The Sea Dogs return to TD Bank Ballpark tomorrow, June 3, 2023 for game five of a six-game series against the Somerset Patriots. First pitch for game five is slated for 6:35pm. Portland will send RHP CJ Liu (4-3, 3.92 ERA) to the mound while Somerset will start RHP Yoendrys Gomez (0-0, 0.00).