EL1 Portland Sea Dogs

Sea Dogs Blast Past Phillies to Snap Losing Streak

August 25, 2011 - Eastern League (EL1)
Portland Sea Dogs News Release


Reading, Pennsylvania- The Portland Sea Dogs got the pitching from Charlie Haeger. They got the offense from Jeremy Hazelbaker, and for the first time in eight games, the Sea Dogs got the win. Portland snapped a seven-game losing streak with an 8-4 win over the Reading Phillies on Thursday night. The Sea Dogs had not won a game since sweeping a doubleheader from the Phillies last Wednesday. Haeger (3-0) earned the win with six and one-third shutout innings. Hazelbaker went 4-for-5 with 5 RBI, including a pair of home runs.

Portland jumped on Reading starter Tyson Brummett (3-8) early. Ryan Khoury singled to lead off the game. Hazelbaker followed with a line drive home run to left field that made it a 2-0 Sea Dogs lead. After a scoreless second inning, Portland added a run each in the third through eighth innings. Hazelbaker tacked on a couple of RBI singles and a solo homer. Mark Wagner also homered, a solo shot, for his fourth of the season.

Hazelbaker picked up at least 5 RBI in a game for the second time this year, the second Portland player to accomplish that feat. Reynaldo Rodriguez is the other. The only other time that Hazelbaker did it was on July 11th when he drove in six runs on a pair of three-run homers against New Hampshire. Hazelbaker is just the second Sea Dog to have a multi-homer game this season, joining former Portland outfielder Chih-Hsien Chiang.

Haeger was in excellent command of his knuckleball from the beginning. The former Major Leaguer surrendered just five hits over the course of his outing. Reading had chances against Haeger in both the third and sixth innings. Haeger retired three straight after yielding back-to-back singles in the third innings.

The Phillies loaded the bases against the knuckleballer in the sixth and seventh innings. In the sixth, Haeger recovered to get a pop out and strikeout as Reading stranded the bases loaded. After the Phillies filled the bags in the seventh, Kyle Fernandes came in to replace Haeger. The lefty got out of the jam with a fly out and a strikeout to keep Reading off the board.

Reading scored its runs against Fernandes in the eighth inning. Tuffy Gosewisch smacked an RBI double. Then, the inning was prolonged when an error by Khoury allowed Paco Figueroa to reach and Gosewisch to score. Fidel Hernandez followed with a run-scoring single, but Steve Singleton grounded out to end the inning. Gosewisch added an RBI double off Blake Maxwell in the ninth to account for the final difference.

The Sea Dogs continue their series in Reading tomorrow night. Due to the weather forecast from Hurricane Irene, the two teams will finish the series with a doubleheader on Saturday. After that, Portland wraps up their end-of-season road trip with four games in Harrisburg. The final home series starts on Friday, September 2nd with this year's induction into the Portland Sea Dogs Hall of Fame presented by UNUM. For tickets, log on to www.seadogs.com or call 207-879-9500.

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Eastern League Stories from August 25, 2011


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