Portland Sea Dogs right-hander Teddy Stankiewicz rebounded from a couple hiccups in the opening innings Sunday afternoon to make his best start in more than a month.
But the New Hampshire Fisher Cats rallied against the Portland bullpen, scoring two runs in the eighth to beat the Sea Dogs 5-4 at Hadlock Field.
Stankiewicz allowed three runs in the first two innings, then blanked New Hampshire for four innings after that. He struck out five and allowed five hits and one walk.
“Just shaky the first couple of innings, but he was throwing strikes,” Sea Dogs Manager Carlos Febles said. “His tempo was kind of slow, but he picked it up after the second inning.
“Everything was smooth after that. He attacked the zone and his fastball had a little bit more life. It’s something he can build on.”
Stankiewicz began the year by allowing two or fewer earned runs in eight of his first nine starts. He has only done that one more time, on June 14, and Sunday marked his best start since then.
Austin Maddox (2-2) took the loss, giving up two runs (one earned) in the eighth. Christian Lopes singled and stole second base. With two outs, Lopes scored on Jason Leblebijian’s line-drive single to right. Leblebijian reached second base when right fielder Rainel Rosario misplayed the ball and scored the go-ahead run on Rowdy Tellez’s single to center.
Mauricio Dubon, Andrew Benintendi, Ryan Court and Cody Decker each drove in a run for Portland. Yoan Moncada was 1 for 2 with a double, two walks and two runs.
Moncada has struggled against left-handers in Double-A, but he had a double and two walks against lefty starter Shane Dawson. He struck out against right-handed reliever John Stilson (4-0).
Benintendi doubled home Moncada in the first inning. Rosario scored on Dubon’s sacrifice fly in the second inning.
In the fifth, walks by Moncada and Benintendi were followed by RBI from Court (single) and Decker (groundout), giving Portland a 4-3 lead.
But the Sea Dogs were shut down after that.
Portland dropped to 34-59. The Fisher Cats improved to 42-51.
NOTES: The announced paid attendance was a second straight sellout of 7,368. … After the second inning, Stankiewicz allowed only two base runners and picked them both off. … The Sea Dogs will play a three-game series in Trenton, New Jersey, starting Monday and then return to Hadlock Field for the start of a four-game series with Binghamton at 7 p.m. Thursday. … In Triple-A Pawtucket, former Sea Dogs all-star Marco Hernandez hit a three-run homer in a 6-0 win over Charlotte.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
