TRENTON, N.J. – Luis Exposito hit a three-run home run with one out in the ninth inning as the Portland Sea Dogs rallied to a 10-7 victory over the Trenton Thunder in an Eastern League game Thursday night.
Jason Rice (1-1) struck out the only batter he faced in the eighth, then set down three more hitters on strikes in the ninth, preserving his first Double-A victory.
The Sea Dogs took an early 4-0 lead, but the Thunder pulled into a 5-5 tie before taking a 7-5 lead.
After Exposito’s homer put Portland ahead 8-7, Yamaico Navarro hit another home run as the Sea Dogs opened a three-run cushion.
The Sea Dogs grabbed the lead in the second inning. Anthony Rizzo started the rally with a walk and advanced to third on a double by Navarro.
Rizzo scored on a wild pitch before Chih-Hsien Chiang homered to right field for a 3-0 lead. Two batters later, Matt Sheely kept the rally alive with a single and scored when Ryan Khoury doubled down the left-field line.
The Thunder responded with three runs in their half of the inning.
Brandon Laird hit a solo home run, and Daniel Brewer followed with a two-run shot.
The teams exchanged runs in the third. Rizzo hit a home run to right field for the Sea Dogs, and the Thunder countered with back-to-back doubles by Brandon Laird and Jorge Vazquez.
Trenton tied the game in the fourth on three consecutive singles, with Marcos Vechionacci scoring on Kevin Mahoney’s hit.
The score remained tied until the bottom of the seventh when the Thunder took their first lead of the game.
Austin Krum started the rally with a one-out double. After a fly-ball out by Austin Romine and a walk to Laird, Vazquez doubled to left to score Krum.
The Thunder added a run in the eighth on an RBI single by Justin Christian, but their lead disappeared quickly in the ninth. Khoury led off with a single and moved to second on Che-Hsuan Lin’s walk.
Ray Chang advanced both runners with a sacrifice, setting the stage for Exposito.
The Portland designated hitter stepped up and drove a 2-2 pitch out of the park, giving the Sea Dogs an 8-7 lead.
Those three runs were charged to losing pitcher Kevin Whelan (0-1).
However, the Sea Dogs weren’t done yet.
Wilkins Arias walked Rizzo on four pitches, then served up a two-run shot to Navarro as Portland completed a five-run rally.
The Sea Dogs begin a series tonight, returning to Hadlock Field to take on the Reading Phillies.
At 6 p.m., Portland and Reading will finish their suspended game from May 27, with the Sea Dogs leading 6-4 in the top of the sixth.
Once that game finishes, the teams will play the nine-inning game that was originally scheduled for that date.
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