Sea Dogs End Season with 7-3 Loss to Reading

Smith 3-for-4 with Home Run

Portland, Maine - The Portland Sea Dogs' 2012 season came to close Monday afternoon with 7-3 loss to the Reading Phillies.  The Sea Dogs complete the season in fourth place in the Eastern League Eastern Division with a 68-73 record.  Portland was one of the hottest teams in baseball since the All-Star break winning 32 of their final 51 games.  The Reading Phillies (76-66) secured a playoff spot with the win.

The Reading Phillies broke a 3-3 tie in the sixth inning when Leandro Castro hit a pop-up to shallow right field that second baseman Zach Gentile was unable to catch allowing Jake Fox to score the go-ahead run.

Both teams connected for a two run homer in the first inning.  Fox hit his fifth home run off the left-field foul pole for Reading.  Marquez Smith countered with a two run blast of his own over the Maine Monster as the two clubs closed the first inning.  Christian Vazquez added a RBI ground out scoring Travis Shaw giving the Sea Dogs a 3-2 lead after an inning of play.

The Phillies tied the game at three in the top of the second on a Troy Hanzawa sacrifice fly to right scoring Tommy Joseph.

The Phillies tacked-on a run in the eighth and two in the ninth off Jason Urquidez to secure the victory.  Castro had a RBI single in the eighth, while Cody Asche and Darin Ruf picked-up RBI singles in the ninth.

Chris Martin (3-6) suffered the loss working two innings in relief of starter Brandon Workman.  Martin allowed one run on two hits.  Workman pitched five solid innings allowing three runs on four hits while recording six strikeouts.

Reading starter Adam Morgan (4-1) earned the win tossing 5.2 innings holding the Sea Dogs to three runs on nine hits.

Xander Bogaerts was 1-for-4 with a double, the Red Sox second ranked prospect hit safely in 19 of 23 Double-A games for the Sea Dogs.

The Sea Dogs will open the 2013 season in 213 days on April 4th at 6:00 PM against the Trenton Thunder at Hadlock Field.  Individual tickets for the 2013 season will go on sale on Saturday, November 3rd at 9:00 AM.  Season tickets are currently available.