Bradley Jr. Blasts First Double-A Homer
Portland, Maine - Mike MacDonald was masterful pitching seven shutout innings in his first Hadlock Field start as a Sea Dog on Tuesday Night. The Sea Dogs offense did plenty to support their starter plating seven runs as Portland defeated the Reading Phillies 7-0 in front of 5,008 fans in a game lasting 2:26. The win is a milestone for Sea Dog Manager Kevin Boles who notched his 100th win as the Portland skipper.
MacDonald is the first native of Maine to play for the Sea Dogs in the history of the franchise. The right hander started for the Dogs' on July 8thagainst Trenton but last just 2/3 of an inning and left the game with a left hamstring injury.
Tuesday was the Camden, Maine native's third start at Hadlock Field which has been very friendly to him. His other appearances came as a member of the New Hampshire Fisher Cats. He pitched eight scoreless innings as a Fisher Cat against Portland on August 17, 2006.
MacDonald went seven strong innings giving up five hits holding the Eastern League's top hitting team (.270) to no runs. MacDonald did not surrender a walk throwing a first pitch to 14 of the 24 batters he faced. He threw 72 pitches and 50 for strikes notching two strike outs.
The Sea Dogs ran wild on the base paths Tuesday night racking up six stolen bases. The six matches a franchise high set in 2002 when the Sea Dogs were affiliated with the Florida Marlins and it is the most for Portland as part of the Red Sox system. Jeremy Hazelbaker and Peter Hissey each had two stolen bases along Jackie Bradley Jr. and Bryce Brentz who each had one.
Bradley kicked the game off with a bang for the Sea Dogs blasting his first Double-A home run to right centerfield. Bradley's home run extends his hitting streak to four. The Dogs added two more runs in the first staking claim to an early 3-0 lead. Marquez Smith followed Hazelbaker's single with a RBI double and Smith eventually came around to score the final run of the inning on a Bryce Brentz ground out.
Hazelbaker led-off the bottom of the fifth inning with a walk and promptly swiped second base putting himself in scoring position. Brentz singled home Hazelbaker making the score 4-0.
The Dogs tacked on another run in the six off of reliever Juan Morillo who came in to the game for starter Julio Rodriguez. Dan Butler led-off the inning with a walk and would come around to score on a Derrik Gibson groundout putting the Dogs in front 5-0.
Rodriguez (5-4, 4.01) took the loss for Reading. The Phillies' righty went five innings giving up four runs on four hits. He also struck out four and walked five.
Hazelbaker went 3-for-3 in the game and has reached base in seven consecutive plate appearances.
The Sea Dogs will face the Reading Phillies in the rubber match of the three game series Wednesday at Noon. Portland right hander Jeremy Kehrt (3-3, 5.10) is slated to take the ball against RHP Trevor May (7-6, 4.85) of the Reading Phillies. Catch all of the game action on 95.5/95.9 FM WPEI. Tickets are available and can be purchased by calling the Sea Dogs Ticket Office 207-879-9500 or order online at www.seadogs.com.
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