AKRON, Ohio – Portland Sea Dogs pitcher Stephen Fife took a no-hitter into the sixth inning Sunday afternoon at Canal Park.
His bid for a no-hitter came to an end, but so did the Akron Aeros’ 12-game winning streak after the Sea Dogs secured a 3-0 victory before a crowd of 1,996.
“(Stephen) went against a pretty good team that is really hot and (has) been beating up our pitching staff,” Portland Manager Arnie Beyeler said. “He watched them for a few days and is a very smart kid. He threw to his strengths, got ahead in the count and took advantage of their aggressiveness.”
Akron’s winning streak was the longest in the history of the franchise that dates back to 1989 in Canton, Ohio.
Fife, a right-hander, had a no-hitter through 5 1/3 innings. Aeros catcher Miguel Perez broke it up with an infield single.
“It is something you are aware of, but is not something I am trying to do,” Fife said of a no-hitter.
“It is not my goal to throw a no-hitter. My goal is to put zeroes up on the board and get my team back up to hit, and ultimately to get a win in the end. I take more of a quality start type of an approach.”
Fife (3-1) left after six innings. He allowed two hits, walked none and struck out five.
“Pitch efficiency on a hot, humid day like this is very important,” Fife said. “Getting the fastball in the zone, making them respect that and get them to hit early were keys.”
Only three Akron batters reached base off Fife. Jason Kipnis reached on an error in the first inning and got a single in the sixth.
“(Stephen) was efficient, threw quality pitches and let them get themselves out, similar to what we have been doing here the past two nights,” Beyeler said. “He did an outstanding job.”
Portland broke a scoreless deadlock in the fifth inning. Che-Hsuan Lin drew a two-out walk and scored on an double to left by Ray Chang.
The Sea Dogs consistently fouled off pitches and worked the count against Aeros right-hander Alex White (2-2), who needed 95 pitches to get through five innings.
“Grinding out at bats and making guys work is important,” Beyeler said.
Chang agreed and said: “We came into the game and knew that (White) is always around the zone. We knew we had to battle and grind out every at bat.”
Ryan Khoury extended Portland’s lead to 2-0 in the sixth inning with an RBI single to right off right-handed reliever Connor Graham that scored Yamaico Navarro, who singled with one out.
The Sea Dogs got their final run in the eighth with two outs off right-handed reliever Shane Lindsay. Navarro walked, Chih-Hsien Chiang reached on an error and Khoury walked to load the bases. Juan Apodaca then was hit by pitch on an 0-2 pitch to force home Navarro.
Sea Dogs right-handers Eammon Portice and Jason Rice combined to pitch three shutout innings in relief. Rice earned his eighth save.
“I have been a part of a lot of hot teams,” said Chang, who went 3 for 4. “When teams are hot it is kind of hard to beat them, it seems like everything falls their way.
“It is really nice to beat them and at least get one before we get home. Hopefully, this will jump-start our team.”
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