Sea Dogs Hold Early Lead for a Win over the Curve
EL Portland Sea Dogs

Sea Dogs Hold Early Lead for a Win over the Curve

Published on April 15, 2026 under Eastern League (EL)
Portland Sea Dogs News Release


Altoona, PA - The Portland Sea Dogs (6-4) held on for another win against the Altoona Curve (0-11), 8-6 on Wednesday night.

Franklin Arias led off the game with his second home run in as many days as he recorded his fifth multi-hit game of the season in his first two at bats, reaching base five total times on a two-for-three night with two walks and a fielding error by Altoona in the eighth. He scored four of Portland's eight runs. Five total Sea Dogs recorded multi-hit games, with three hits for Tyler McDonough, and two apiece for each of Will Turner, Marvin Alcantara, and Nate Baez. The Sea Dogs pitching staff recorded 15 strikeouts, their seventh game with 10 or more strikeouts this season.

Thanks to Arias' leadoff homer, It took just two pitches for the Sea Dogs to jump out to an early 1-0 lead.

After a scoreless second inning, the Sea Dog bats came alive, striking for a season-high five runs in the top of the third inning. Arias began the inning with his second hit of the day, a single to right field. He reached second on a Nate Baez single to left field, and advanced to third on a Ronald Rosario walk. Drew Ehrhard launched a sacrifice fly to right field to bring home Arias, before Will Turner lined a two RBI triple to right field, his first three-bagger of the season. Tyler McDonough followed that up with an RBI double of his own off the wall in center field, bringing Turner around to score. McDonough advanced to third and then home on consecutive wild pitches before a groundout finally ended the inning.

RHP Caleb Bolden replaced starter Gage Ziehl in the sixth inning and Altoona found some life, striking for four off three singles, a double and a walk, before a deep flyout to right field ended the inning, leaving the Curve trailing by just three runs, 7-4.

With the game suddenly competitive, the Sea Dogs brought in LHP Erik Rivera, who was tied for the team lead with two saves already this season. Rivera put two runners in scoring position off a walk and a double, before striking out the next three batters he faced to hang a zero on the board in the bottom of the seventh inning.

In the top of the eighth inning, Arias reached on a two-out error, sparking a Sea Dogs rally as Marvin Alcantara singled and was brought around to score by a Nate Baez RBI double, extending the Sea Dogs' lead 8-4.

Altoona did not go down quietly, adding to their tally on a solo home run in the bottom of the eighth by Javier Rivas, cutting the deficit to three, 8-5. Rivera, out for his second inning of work, bounced back with consecutive strikeouts. Although Rivera technically struck out a third batter, an overthrow by Ronald Rosario on the drop-third-strike brought home another Altoona run, and the score was 8-6. The Sea Dogs made a pitching change, and RHP Michael Sansone struck out the first batter he saw, Shawn Ross, to end the inning.

After a leadoff walk in the bottom of the ninth, Sansone induced a grounder into a double play, the second of the night for the Sea Dogs defense, before a groundout to second iced the win for Portland.

RHP Gage Ziehl (1-1, 6.14 ERA) earned his first winning decision of the season after an excellent start, pitching 5.0 scoreless innings and lowering his ERA by over ten runs. Altoona's starter RHP Connor Wietgrefe (0-1, 6.08 ERA) took the loss, allowing six runs on seven hits and two walks. RHP Michael Sansone (S, 1, 3.72 ERA) earned his first save of the season.

LHP Eduardo Rivera (0-0, 2.08 ERA) will start for the Sea Dogs tomorrow as they seek their second three-game win streak of the season. He'll face RHP Peyton Stumbo, who looks to deliver a victory to the winless Curve. First pitch is scheduled for 6:00 pm ET at People's Natural Gas Field.

Check out the Portland Sea Dogs Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Eastern League Stories from April 15, 2026


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central