BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — The Portland Sea Dogs started Thursday night behind another Eastern League team for the first time since May 5. The response was swift and powerful.
Stefan Welch had two of Portland’s four home runs in the first five innings and the Sea Dogs went on to rout the Binghamton Mets 7-0 to even their best-of-five divisional series at one game apiece.
Sean Coyle and Keury De La Cruz also homered as the Sea Dogs quickly improved their position in their first playoff appearance since 2008.
The Sea Dogs started the night needing to win 3 of 4 games to recover from Wednesday night’s meltdown, when they allowed five unearned runs in the last two innings of an 8-5 Mets’ victory.
Now Portland returns to Hadlock Field for the remainder of the series, with games scheduled Friday and Saturday nights. If a fifth game is needed, it is scheduled for Sunday.
“It was a great bounce-back win,” said Welch, who entered the night 1 for 19 in his last seven games. “The whole team played a good game. The defense made some great plays.”
The Sea Dogs beat the Mets in every way.
The offense had 11 hits, adding a triple as well as the four homers. Mike Miller had three hits, and Welch, De La Cruz and Shannon Wilkerson added two each.
Justin Haley, the Portland starter, struck out eight in six innings of the combined shutout with Wilfredo Boscan, who worked three innings for the save. Haley gave up five singles and a walk; Boscan allowed three hits.
The infield recovered from a rough night in the opener by turning four double plays, including three to end innings.
“The guys certainly didn’t think that they were out of it after falling down 0-1,” Sea Dogs Manager Billy McMillon said. “It was a good game in all areas –the pitching, the defense and the timely hitting.
“They took advantage of some of our mistakes (Wednesday). We took advantage of their errors to score (four) unearned runs.”
Welch led off both the second and third innings with homers.
After his second-inning shot to right field on a 1-1 pitch, the Sea Dogs added four unearned runs.
Michael Brenly reached on one error. He scored when Wilkerson followed with a triple, and a throwing error on that play allowed Wilkerson to come home for a 3-0 lead.
Coyle homered for the second straight night, a two-run shot just fair down the left-field line for a 5-0 lead.
Welch’s second straight homer went bouncing through the parking lot well beyond the right-field fence at NYSEG Stadium.
De La Cruz led off the fifth with the last homer of the night for the Sea Dogs, who held on to the first place for nearly four months on the way to the Eastern Division title.
After that, Portland managed just one more hit, but it had already done the offensive work necessary to get back to Hadlock Field on even ground.
“We tried not to put too much pressure on ourselves,” Welch said. “I was just glad to be able to contribute to the win.”
The infield certainly contributed, turning double plays in three straight innings at one point.
Shortstop Heiker Meneses made the pivot on three double plays, including two tough ones, and started the other by getting right to the bag after fielding a ball up the middle. He also made a throw to first after landing on his rear on a hard-hit ball, and may have made his two most impressive plays on two infield singles where the runners barely beat his throws.
Cuban outfielder Rusney Castillo, who went 1 for 3 with a stolen base in his Sea Dogs debut Wednesday night, remains with the team but had the night off Thursday.
Castillo has played three games with two minor-league teams since signing a seven-year, $72.5 million contract with the Boston Red Sox.
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