Sea Dogs Drop Opener 3-0
Published on April 9, 2009 under Eastern League (EL1)
Portland Sea Dogs News Release
(Portland, ME) - The 16th season of Sea Dogs baseball began on Thursday night at Hadlock Field but the Connecticut Defenders spoiled the party, beating Portland 3-0 in front of 5,719 fans. Red Sox pitching prospect Junichi Tazawa (0-1) made his professional debut for Portland but suffered the loss, despite five innings of 4-hit ball and seven strikeouts. Connecticut's 4-hit shutout was a combination of five pitchers, including four scoreless frames from starter Daryl Maday. Portland left six runners on baseball but had only one runner reach scoring position after the second inning. Mike Musgrave earned the win for the Defenders, retiring all four batters faced, three came on strikeouts.
Tazawa shined in his first pro inning, dropping a curveball on the outside corner to freeze lead-off man Brad Boyer. Brian Bocock followed with a single but the Japanese native fanned Eddy Martinez-Esteve on a curveball and Bocock was caught-stealing on a hit and run. The righty fanned five over the first 3 frames but allowed the season's first run in the fourth inning on Brett Pill's (2-for-4) 2-out, run-scoring double. Martinez-Esteve began the rally with a one-out walk and scored on the two-base hit. Tazawa worked around a lead-off triple by Mike Mooney in the fifth inning by fanning two batters and getting Boyer to foul out.
Connecticut added single runs off Portland's bullpen late in the game. Mooney cracked a two-out homer off Dustin Richardson with two outs in the seventh inning. In the eighth, Jackson Williams greeted Bryce Cox with a double and scored on Bocock's single past the dive of SS Argenis Diaz.
Portland's best scoring chance came in the second inning when Mark Wagner and Jon Still provided back-to-back one-out singles. Ryan Khoury loaded the bases with a two-out walk, but Diaz ended the rally by grounding out to third base. The 'Dogs had one runner reached scoring position after the second and that came in the ninth off Joe Patterson. Lars Anderson singled and was forced out a ground ball hit by Aaron Bates. Daniel Otero relieved Patterson,retiring Wagner (ground out) and fanning Jon Still to end the game.
The Sea Dogs and Connecticut Defenders continue their 4-game series on Friday night with a 6:00 PM start at Hadlock Field. RHP Adam Mills will face Connecticut's Brooks McNiven.
Notes...Portland had two players (Still and Tazawa) make their Double-A debut...Mark Wagner threw out two attempted basestealers...Portland finished the game with four hits, singles by Anderson, Bates, Still and Wagner.
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