The Portland Sea Dogs got solid pitching and timely hitting Saturday night to snap a two-game losing streak with a 9-4 victory against the Akron RubberDucks before a sellout crowd of 7,368 at Hadlock Field.
Jacob Dahlstrand, who is coming off Tommy John surgery, held the RubberDucks in check for five innings and the Sea Dogs scored four runs in both the second and fourth innings to run their record to 3-2 on a six-game homestand.
“The offense did a good job tonight,” said Manager Carlos Febles of the Sea Dogs, who totaled 15 hits. “We had an explosive night at the plate to give our pitchers some room.”
Dahlstrand was nearly unhittable after getting roughed up in the first inning. Akron opened the scoring when Greg Allen led off the game with a bloop double down the left-field line and scored when Luigi Rodriguez lined a single up the middle. Jordan Smith and Nellie Rodriguez walked before Dahlstrand got out of the inning.
“He got into a rhythm,” Febles said. “He took a step back (in the first) and regrouped, and he was pretty good the rest of the way.”
Dahlstrand (2-1) retired 14 of the last 17 batters to face him, allowing one more hit.
“He can pitch five innings or 85 pitches, whatever comes first,” Febles said. Dahlstrand threw 73 pitches, 47 for strikes.
Reliever Taylor Grover retired the side in order in the sixth and seventh before running into trouble in the eighth. Ty Buttrey induced Todd Hankins to hit into an inning-ending double play in the eighth, then struck out the side in the ninth.
Portland took a 4-1 lead in the second. Nate Freiman and Cody Decker opened with singles. After both moved up on a wild pitch, Freiman made it 1-1 when Cole Sturgeon grounded to shortstop and Decker scored on Rainel Rosario’s infield hit. After Tzu-Wei Lin’s hit-and-run single put runners at the corners, Aneury Taverez pulled a triple into the gap in right.
Portland made it 8-1 in the fourth, loading the bases when Jake Romanski and Rosario opened with singles and Lin walked. With one out, Mauricio Dubon doubled to the base of the wall in center to clear the bases. After Ryan Court reached on an error, Dubon scored the fourth run of the inning on a wild pitch.
Decker led off the bottom of the seventh with his eighth home run of the season, a 361-foot opposite-field shot into the pavilion in right to make it 9-1.
Jordan Smith hit a three-run homer in the eighth to cut into Portland’s lead.
NOTES: Portland second baseman Yoan Moncado, who injured his left ankle while sliding into third Friday night, sat out. Lin, who started at third on Friday night, took his place at second. … Akron leftfielder Mike Papi had to leave the game in the third inning after Luigi Rodriguez lined a foul ball into the RubberDucks’ dugout and it hit him. … It was the ninth sellout of the season for the Sea Dogs at Hadlock.
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