HARRISBURG, Pa. — Kyle Weiland’s run of dominance against Harrisburg came to a screeching halt Thursday night.
The Senators hammered Weiland for eight runs and the Sea Dogs’ hitters scarcely were heard from after the first inning in Harrisburg’s 10-5 victory at Metro Bank Park.
All the damage against Weiland came in the middle innings. He gave up a tying, two-run home run to Marvin Lowrance in the fourth and a three-run shot to Danny Espinosa in the fifth.
“In the fourth, I just made a mistake,” Weiland said. “Well, I made two mistakes. That was pretty much the story the next two innings.”
Harrisburg starter Andrew Kown, meanwhile, was nearly unscathed after Luis Exposito’s two-run homer in the first inning. Kown retired the next 11 hitters after the home run and finished with seven innings of three-hit ball.
Kown and Weiland each threw seven dazzling innings Saturday at Hadlock Field.
Weiland threw three more scoreless innings to start Thursday’s game. He struck out eight in the game, most of them on slow curveballs below the knees.
Espinosa missed badly on two curveballs in the dirt in the fifth, but Weiland left a two-strike pitch up and Espinosa cleared the right-field bleachers to give the Senators the lead for good at 5-2.
“I was trying to go fastball up and in (to Espinosa),” Weiland said. “His second at-bat, I struck him out with a fastball up.
“In the fifth, I just didn’t get it up enough or in enough. He was definitely more prepared for it, and he didn’t miss it.”
The home run came two batters after Portland third baseman Ryan Khoury allowed a potential double-play grounder to get past him into left field for an error. Khoury bobbled another grounder in the eighth, one of three consecutive Sea Dogs errors.
Portland’s fielding didn’t sit well with Manager Arnie Beyeler.
“(Weiland) didn’t execute all his pitches, but we didn’t play very good defense behind him,” Beyeler said. “We got a double-play ball and (Khoury) didn’t make the play. It snowballed after that. But (Weiland) threw the ball well.”
Harrisburg Manager Randy Knorr agreed about Weiland.
“They knew about him from last time,” Knorr said. “As much as we swung at the breaking ball, we did lay off the top to make him throw a lot of pitches. He might have worn down in the end, but that’s a good pitcher over there.
Chris Marrero led off the sixth with a single and Weiland hit Tim Pahuta on the foot on a pitch that nearly was strike three — Pahuta narrowly checked his swing on another slow curve in the dirt. Adam Fox then lined a two-run double to center that gave Harrisburg an 8-2 lead and ended Weiland’s night.
Exposito hit his second home run of the game in the eighth, a three-run shot to bring Portland to within 8-5, but Harrisburg tacked on two runs off Bryce Cox in the error-filled eighth.
“Instead of us being back in the ballgame, they put us away,” Beyeler said.
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