Roman's Empire reigns in Portland

Roman Quinn went 3-for-4 with four RBI and three runs as the Reading Fightin Phils (35-18) beat the Portland Sea Dogs (18-34) 12-2 on Wednesday night. Mark Leiter Jr. (1-0) earned his first win by allowing two runs (one earned) in five innings.  

For the second straight game Quinn hit a lead-off home run in the top of the first inning to give the Fightins a 1-0 lead. The home run was his third of the season. Portland tied the game at 1-1 of Leiter Jr. in the bottom of the third inning as Tzu-Wei Lin hit a RBI double.

Reading scored a season-high seven runs in the top of the fourth inning to chase Sea Dogs starter Teddy Stankiewicz (1-5) out of the game. Reading jumped ahead 8-1 as Carlos Alonso, Aaron Brown, KC Serna and Roman Quinn all hit doubles consecutively. Brown's double brought in two runs while Serna's and Quinn's brought in just one run. Jesmuel Valentin added a RBI single and Christian Marrero hit a solo home run.  

Portland got a run off Leiter Jr. in the bottom of the fourth as Aneury Tavarez hit a sacrifice fly to cut Reading's lead to 8-2. Quinn added a sacrifice fly in the top of the sixth inning against Sea Dogs reliever Jake Drehoff to give Reading a 9-2 lead.

Quinn struck again in the top of the eighth inning as he hit a RBI double off Mitch Atkins to give Reading a 10-2 lead. Quinn would score on a sacrifice fly from Jorge Alfaro to see the Fightins take an 11-2 lead. Jake Fox scored on a ground-out in the top of the ninth as the lead would improve to 12-2 for Reading.  

Gregory Infante pitched two scoreless innings in relief of Leiter Jr. Jeremy Bleich entered the game in the bottom of the eighth for the Fightin Phils. He pitched two scoreless innings in relief to finish out the game.    

The Fightin Phils and Portland Sea Dogs will finish the series on Thursday morning at Hadlock Field. First pitch is at 11:00 am. Fans can listen to the game on Sports Radio AM 1240/FM 98.5 and fightins.com at 10:30 am.  

Tickets for the 2016 season are available online at Fightins.com, by phone at 610-370-BALL, and in-person at FirstEnergy Stadium.