BINGHAMTON, N.Y. – The pregame sleet and snow flurries made Tuesday a night many baseball players would be just as happy to avoid.
With a week to think about the struggles of his last outing, however, Portland Sea Dogs pitcher Ryne Miller was eager to be back on the mound.
“This one’s been on my mind,” Miller said after holding the Binghamton Mets scoreless on one hit through six innings in Portland’s 2-0 win. “I haven’t pitched in (seven) days, so I had to live with it.
“I put my mind and effort into it so that it wouldn’t happen again.”
Miller said he needed to change his thinking after giving up six runs on five hits, including two homers, and four walks in just three innings of a 15-3 loss at home April 20.
“The last one against them, I was trying to be too perfect — put it outside; put it inside,” Miller said. “This time, I just threw to my catcher and didn’t worry about it.
“And, my defense gave me a lot of help. I only had a handful of strikeouts.”
Miller (1-1) did not allow a hit for the first five innings. He got out of the sixth after allowing two runners and exited with a 2-0 lead. His effort allowed the Sea Dogs to improve to 10-8 and move a half-game in front of the Mets in second place in the Eastern League Eastern Division.
“Any time you can no-hit a team like this for four or five innings, you’re doing something right,” Sea Dogs Manager Arnie Beyeler said. “He was very aggressive.
“After the game he pitched against them at our place, it was nice to see him bounce back like that.”
Miller walked two and struck out three.
“Maybe the cold night helped him, but he certainly had a good curveball tonight,” Binghamton Manager Tim Teufel said. “That was something that we didn’t see the last game. He tried a few times, but we were on it.”
Jason Rice and Bryce Cox followed Miller to complete the two-hitter.
Rice also bounced back well. He allowed five runs in 32/3 innings over his previous two outings before striking out two in two scoreless innings.
Cox picked up his second save with a perfect ninth inning.
The pitching benefited from three hits by Lars Anderson, a homer by Ryan Kalish and some outstanding defense.
“We were very solid defensively,” Beyeler said.
Third baseman Ryan Chang went to his knees to start an inning-ending force play in the second; second baseman Nate Spears flipped to shortstop Jose Iglesias to begin a double play that ended the sixth; and center fielder Che-Hsuan Lin made a diving, backhand grab of a low liner in the eighth.
Anderson singled in his first three at-bats. He stole second in the fifth and scored on a two-out single by Chih-Hsien Chiang.
After struggling with the Sea Dogs last season, Anderson is hitting .355. He has hits in 13 of his last 14 games, going 19 for 48 (.396).
“He’s been swinging the bat well all season,” Beyeler said. “He has a great attitude and he’s having fun.”
Kalish ripped a 2-2 pitch well out of the park in right field for a two-out homer in the sixth inning.
NOTES: The teams play again at 6:35 tonight. After a day off, the Sea Dogs will start a home stand at 6 p.m. Friday against New Britain.
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