Portland drops the opener to \'Cats 6-2
August 28, 2009 - Eastern League (EL1)
Portland Sea Dogs News Release
(Manchester, NH) - New Hampshire's RF Nick Gorneault drove in three runs to lead the Fisher Cats (59-72) past the Portland Sea Dogs (62-68), 6-2 on Friday night at Merchantsauto.com Stadium in the series opener of a 5-game series. With the New Britain and Trenton contest being postponed, the Sea Dogs trail the Rock Cats by 4 games for the second playoff spot in the Northern Division.
RHP Kenny Rodriguez (4-3) notched his third quality start of the season, hurling six strong innings on three hits and one run. The righty issued both walks in the first inning and finished with eight strikeouts.
Portland starter RHP Blake Maxwell (5-8) took the loss for the Sea Dogs, allowing six runs but two were unearned. Maxwell worked five innings, yielding six hits, two walks and two strikeouts.
With the game tied at one, New Hampshire scored four runs in the third inning off Maxwell. With one out, CF Darin Mastroianni reached on an infield single, stole second base and scored on a single by DH Scott Campbell. 2B Brad Emaus followed with a single and 1B David Cooper walked to load the bases. Gorneault nailed a 2-run double over the head of LF Daniel Nava for the game-winning hit. The Fisher Cats added a run in the fifth inning on Gorneault's RBI single to left field.
3B Jorge Jimenez provided the final run of the game, dropping a single to right field to plate Nava, who finished 1-for-2, 2 BB, 2 RS.
Portland struck for a run in their first turn against Rodriguez. Nava led off the game with and two batters later, DH Jon Still reached on a free pass. 1B Lars Anderson extended his hitting to six games (season-high) with a run-scoring single to right field. New Hampshire stormed right back to tie the game at one off Maxwell. Mastroianni led with a single but advanced to second base on a bobble by RF Jason Place. After stealing third base, Mastroianni scored on a ground out by 2B Brad Emaus.
RHP Richie Lentz and LHP Derrick Loop closed out the game with three scoreless inning of relief for the Sea Dogs.
The Sea Dogs and Fisher Cats play game 2 of their series on Saturday night from Merchantsauto.com Stadium beginning at 7:05 PM. Catch all the action on the U.S. Cellular Sea Dogs Radio Network beginning at 6:35 PM with the Pre-Game Show built by CorrectDeck.
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