Portland Pounds New Britain 13-5 in Finale

Betts and Wilkerson combine to go 6-10, 5R, 6RBI, 'Dogs with a season-high 20 hits

New Britain, Connecticut - The Portland Sea Dogs (23-14) broke a tie in the seventh and scored 10 runs over the final three frames in the 13-5 win over the New Britain Rock Cats (16-21) Thursday afternoon at New Britain Stadium. The 'Dogs picked up the 13 runs on a season-high 20 hits in the win.

The game headed to the late innings tied at 3-3 between the two rivals, but the Sea Dogs blasted Adrian Salcedo and the bullpen for six runs in the inning and never looked back.

The rally began when Shannon Wilkerson singled to lead off the
inning and scored on a 2-run blast to center by, none other than, Mookie Betts. The home run, Betts' sixth of the season, put the 'Dogs in front for good at 5-3 and the wheels continued to turn. Deven Marrero, Travis Shaw, and Carlos Rivero followed with three straight singles, which produced another run and made it 6-3.

Henry Ramos doubled home Shaw off of Salcedo (0-5) for the fourth run of the inning and ended the righty's day on the mound. Cole Johnson was next from the pen and didn't fair much better. He got the first man he faced, but gave up a run-scoring double to Heiker Meneses. Wilkerson singled for the second time in the inning and capped off the scoring as Meneses scored and made it 9-3 in favor of Portland.

The Rock Cats responded with two more runs of their own in the bottom of the seventh against Matty Ott. Kennys Vargas hit a double off of the reliever that scored Brady Boyer from second and cut the deficit to 9-4.

Former Sea Dog Reynaldo Rodriguez knocked home the second run with a single to right that plated Nate Hanson and pulled New Britain to within four. Ott (1-1) battled back and stopped the inning with a 1-6-3 double play that killed the rally and ended the frame.

The offense for Portland wasn't close to being done and plated another four runs in the ninth inning for the second time this week. Matt Spring was the fire-starter and began the rally with a walk. He and Gibson came around to score on a Wilkerson single that made it 11-5. Deven Marrero drove home a pair and delivered the final blow with a double, which made it 13-5.

Ott earned the win in relief with two innings in which he gave up two earned runs on four hits; he walked one and struck out one. Mike McCarthy finished up the 'Dogs day on the mound with two scoreless frames.

The game began scoreless after one inning of work, but in the second both New Britain's Sean Gilmartin and Portland's Brian Johnson were tagged for two runs.

In the top of the frame it was Derrik Gibson who singled home Ramos with a drive to center, which gave the 'Dogs the early lead. Betts doubled the visitor's lead with a single to left that scored Meneses and made it 2-0. The single extended the second baseman's on base streak to 65 straight games, 70 overall including playoffs.

The 'Cats came back with a pair of runs on two walks and a single by Brandon Waring which tied the game against the starter Johnson. New Britain would break the tie and take a 3-2 lead with a run in the fourth, courtesy of a Waring sacrifice fly.

Portland bounced back in the next half inning and tied it with the "Get him on get him over and get him in" philosophy. Betts drew a leadoff walk and stole second, moved to third on a fly ball out and scored on a Carlos Rivero single.

The Sea Dogs hit 95 North and get set to open up a seven-day, nine game, homestand Friday night at 6:00pm from Hadlock Field. The Trenton Thunder will be the first foes in town, and will be followed by the Binghamton Mets. RHP Keith Couch (4-0, 3.03) looks to remain undefeated and will be up against RHP Caleb Cotham (0-0, 1.69) of the Thunder. Radio coverage begins at 5:40 PM on the WPEI U.S. Cellular Sea Dogs Radio Network and www.seadogs.com. MILB.TV coverage begins at 5:55 PM.