Sea Dogs Strike Back! 1-0 Win Over Richmond in 10

Couch goes eight scoreless, Meneses delivers walk-off single

Portland, Maine - The Portland Sea Dogs (77-50) used a Maine Monster single from Heiker Meneses and picked up the 1-0 walk-off win over the Richmond Flying Squirrels (70-56) in 10 innings Saturday night at Hadlock Field. The win marks the 77th of the season, which is the most ever by a Red Sox affiliated Sea Dogs squad.

Carson Blair sparked the extra-inning rally with a leadoff walk against Edwin Quirarte and David Chester followed with a single, putting two on with nobody out. Jonathan Roof sacrificed the runners to second and third and Ryan Dent was given an intentional walk to load them up for Meneses.

The shortstop worked the count full against the righty and crushed a 3-2 pitch off of the Monster in left-center field for a single that scored Blair and Portland walked-off with the 1-0 win.

Quirarte (9-7) took the loss, working an inning and a third, allowing the run on three hits and two walks.

The Force was very strong with the starting pitchers on Star Wars night in Portland on Saturday.

Keith Couch took the hill for the 'Dogs and pitched eight scoreless innings on the mound. He walked the
leadoff man in the first on four pitches, but settled into a nice groove in his first start at Hadlock since June 6th vs. Bowie.

After the walk, Couch retired the next seven hitters in a row, before allowing a two-out single to Tyler Graham in the third. The righty finished the next five innings allowing just two more walks and one hit to the Richmond lineup; his final line was eight scoreless with two hits, three walks, and seven strikeouts.

Clayton Blackburn was called upon by the Squirrels and he matched the Portland starter inning for inning. He retired the side in order in the first, but gave up a single and stolen base to begin the second. That didn't faze him however as he struck out the next four batters in order.

Blackburn mixed his fastball and breaking ball at will and kept Portland off balance all night. He went on to strikeout a career-high 11 batters over his eight scoreless innings. He did not walk anyone and allowed just three hits.

Dayan Diaz was called upon in relief of Couch for the top of the ninth inning. The righty faced the minimum in the frame and struck out two in the tenth keeping it scoreless. Diaz (2-1) earned the win with his two scoreless.

The Sea Dogs and Flying Squirrels wrap up their season series with the sixth and final match up Sunday afternoon at 1:00 PM from Hadlock Field. RHP Mike Augliera (5-10, 4.90) is slated to pitch for Portland and he will face RHP Kyle Crick (6-6, 3.32) of Richmond. Radio coverage begins at 12:40 PM on the WPEI U.S. Cellular Sea Dogs Radio Network. MiLB.tv coverage begins at 12:55 PM.