EL1 Portland Sea Dogs

Owens Electric, Sends Sea Dogs Past Erie 5-1

Published on June 4, 2014 under Eastern League (EL1)
Portland Sea Dogs News Release


PORTLAND, Maine - The Portland Sea Dogs (39-20) led wire to wire thanks to a first inning home run and outstanding pitching and beat the Erie SeaWolves (27-30) 5-1 Wednesday night at Hadlock Field. The win snaps a two-game losing streak for the Sea Dogs.

Bo Greenwell began the game in the best way possible, with a solo home run down the line in right to give Portland the 1-0 lead, right out of the gate against Jeff Ferrell and the SeaWolves. The 'Dogs proceeded to load the bases, with no outs, against the starter, but he bounced back and struck out the next three in order to end the threat.

On the other side of the rubber it was the Red Sox top-pitching prospect Henry Owens on the hill for the Sea Dogs. The lefty entered the game on a 14-inning scoreless streak and he kept that rolling Wednesday night.

Big O cruised through the first inning in perfect fashion; he allowed a hit in the second, but that would be all until the fourth. Owens pitched to contact all night and mixed in one strikeout per inning beginning in the second and continuing through to the seventh.

Jason Krizan drew a leadoff walk in the fourth, but the starter pitched around it and retired the next seven straight, until Jamie Johnson worked a one-out walk in the sixth. Again, the starter pitched around it and sat down the next four in a row.

Owens ventured back out for the eighth inning and ventured into uncharted territory. Aaron Westlake led off the frame with a single, but Owens induced groundouts off the bats of both Dean Green and Dixon Machado to tie a career-high seven and two thirds.

Billy McMillon kept his lefty in there to battle with Johnson as he passed 100 pitches. Owens had a 2-2 count on the leadoff man and eventually won the battle, getting Johnson to fly out to left for the final out of the frame. Owens' final line was a career-high eight innings, all scoreless, with just two hits, two walks, and six strikeouts. He finished with 107 pitches, 73 of which were in the zone for strikes.

Portland's offense doubled up the lead to 2-0 with a run in the fourth. Jonathan Roof, who was named a Carolina League all-star earlier in the day, tripled with one out in the fourth and scored on Derrik Gibson's single.

The offense was back at it in the eighth for more insurance against Guido Knudson and the Erie bullpen. Keury De La Cruz began the rally with a double to the warning track in left, Brenly followed with a hit by pitch and Roof worked a walk to fill the bases with no outs.

Gibson was next and hit a grounder to second for an out at second, but De La Cruz scampered home to make it 3-0. Three batters later, with the bases loaded again, Blake Swihart hit a high pop up in front of home plate that fell and scored both Brenly and Gibson to make it 5-0 Portland.

Noe Ramirez took over in the ninth, struck out the first man he faced, but gave up a single to Devon Travis and a double to Steven Moya, which scored the lone run of the game for the visitors. Moya ran into an out at third and Ramon Cabrera popped out to third to end the game.

The Sea Dogs and SeaWolves continue their three-game series with the finale of the set, Thursday night at 7:00 PM from Hadlock Field. Portland is slated to send LHP Felix Doubront (0-0, -.--) to the hill on a major league rehab assignment from the Boston Red Sox and he will face RHP Tommy Collier (2-5, 6.97) of the SeaWolves. Radio coverage begins at 6:40 PM on the WPEI U.S. Cellular Sea Dogs Radio Network. MiLB.tv coverage gets going at 6:55 PM.

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Eastern League Stories from June 4, 2014


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