Sea Dogs Rally Falls Short, Richmond Takes Rubber Match 4-3

Portland, Maine - The Sea Dogs (23-31) rallied late for the third straight night, but came up just short and dropped the rubber match to the Richmond Flying Squirrels (25-26) 4-3 on Thursday afternoon at Hadlock Field.

Adalberto Mejia made his season debut after serving a 50 game suspension to begin the year and held the Sea Dogs' offense silent through four innings of work.  Mejia allowed just two baserunners - one walk and one error - and struck out three.

Richmond scored first in all three games of the series and took a 2-0 lead in the third inning on an RBI double by Mac Williamson (2-5, 2B, RBI) and a sac fly by Devin Harris (0-4, RBI).  The Squirrels added another run in the fourth on a two-out, RBI double by Eliezer Zambrano (1-3, 2B, BB, R) to make it 3-0, then extended the lead to 4-0 on a two-out, RBI single by Kelby Tomlinson (2-5, 2B, RBI) in the sixth.

The Sea Dogs were held hitless until Danny Bethea (3-4, RBI, R) led off the bottom of the sixth with a single up the middle, but remained scoreless until an eighth inning rally.  After a walk to Blake Tekotte (0-3, BB, R) and a single by Jose Vinicio (1-4, R), Bethea hit an RBI single to cut the lead to 4-1.  Marco Hernandez (0-4, BB) walked to load the bases and Carlos Asuaje (1-3, 2B, 2 RBI, BB) drilled a two-run double down the right field line to make it a 4-3 game.  Jantzen Witte (0-3, BB) was intentionally walked to load the bases while there were still no outs in the inning.  But Jose Casilla got Oscar Tejeda (0-4) to ground into a 5-2-3 double play to get two crucial outs, and after Keury De La Cruz (0-3) was hit by a pitch, Aneury Tavarez (0-4) grounded out to first to end the rally.

Josh Osich closed the door in the ninth to pick up his 13th save of the season.  Tyler Mizenko (2-0) earned the win with two scoreless innings of relief.  Sea Dogs starter Mike Augliera (2-9) got the loss, allowing four earned runs on 11 hits in 5.2 innings.  The Sea Dogs' bullpen extended their scoreless streak to 14.1 innings as Robby Scott and Pat Light combined for 3.1 hitless innings of relief.

The homestand continues tomorrow night as the Bowie Baysox (Baltimore Orioles) make their only trip to Hadlock Field.  Justin Masterson will be starting for Sea Dogs on a rehab assignment for the Boston Red Sox..  First pitch is at 7:00 PM, pregame coverage begins on the WPEI U.S. Cellular Sea Dogs Radio Network at 6:40.  Tickets are still available for all three games of the series and can be purchased online at seadogs.com or by phone at 207-879-9500.