Nobody lingered in the home dugout after Tuesday night’s 2-1 loss to the visiting Hartford Yard Goats at Hadlock Field.
Instead, the Portland Sea Dogs gathered around a television set mounted inside their clubhouse to watch left-hander Darwinzon Hernandez, their teammate for the first three weeks of this season, make his major league debut at Fenway Park.
A cheer erupted as Hernandez stranded a runner in scoring position with a strikeout to end his first inning of work. “Sit!” someone called out to the Detroit batter.
“It’s incredible,” said Sea Dogs shortstop C.J. Chatham. “He’s one of my really good friends. I love being around him.”
Chatham said watching Hernandez not only pitch but have success for the Red Sox was an emotional experience. The Sea Dogs found out about the promotion Monday night and had a chance to say goodbye to Hernandez, who wasn’t officially added to the Boston roster as the 26th man for Tuesday night’s Game 2 of a day/night doubleheader until late Tuesday afternoon.
“It made me almost start tearing up because of how awesome and how great of a dude he is,” Chatham said. “I could not be happier.”
As for the game at Hadlock, Chatham collected three of Portland’s seven hits. Brett Netzer and Aneury Tavarez each added two, but neither team could put together a big inning.
Starting in place of the scheduled Hernandez, Sea Dogs left-hander Matt Kent went six innings without allowing an extra-base hit. He walked three and struck out one. Only one of his two runs was earned, and the other crossed the plate a split second ahead of the tag from catcher John Nunez after an on-target throw from left fielder Keith Curcio.
“I didn’t have command of all the pitches,” Kent said, “but being able to throw seven different types of pitches, you can kind of mix, match and get yourself through some innings. Fastball location was good. Change-up wasn’t the best it’s ever been, but keeping them off the fastball with the cutter and changing elevations helped a bunch to keep them away from squaring balls.”
An outfield bobble in the second led to a sacrifice fly by Alan Trejo and a 1-0 Hartford lead. The Goats made it 2-0 in the third with help from singles by Manny Melendez and Colten Welker and a sacrifice bunt from Mylz Jones.
Kent’s counterpart Tuesday night was another slight left-hander from Texas, Ty Culbreth (3-1), who played on the same travel team growing up.
Culbreth did not allow a runner as far as third base before departing with two down and one on in the sixth. Three of the five hits he allowed never left the infield. He walked two and whiffed one.
The Sea Dogs finally broke through in the sixth against reliever Logan Cozart. Tavarez delivered an opposite-field single to score Marcus Wilson from second base. Threatening to tie, the Dogs instead left the bases loaded when Curcio popped up to end the inning.
“We battled back and had opportunities, but just didn’t get the big hit that got us back even,” Sea Dogs Manager Joe Oliver said. “They made one more play than we did.”
NOTES: Paid attendance was announced as 2,260. … Oliver said he doesn’t know whether Hernandez will return to Portland. “It wouldn’t surprise me if he came back and it wouldn’t surprise me if he stayed,” Oliver said. “He’s a special talent.” … Catcher John Nunez caught one runner stealing and picked another off first base for consecutive outs in the fourth. First baseman Jerry Downs made a difficult over-the-shoulder catch in shallow right field. … For the fourth time this season, the Sea Dogs failed to win consecutive games. … The temperature was 48 degrees at the start.
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