READING, Pa. — On the sixth pitch of the 2010 Portland Sea Dogs season, Ryan Kalish showed how much muscle this team has.
Kalish crushed a home run into a gusting wind, over the right-field wall, hitting an advertisement 415 feet away.
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It was the first of four Portland home runs Thursday night. Luis Exposito, Nate Spears and Che-Hsuan Lin later went deep. The Sea Dogs amassed 11 hits in a 10-5 victory against the Reading Phillies at FirstEnergy Stadium.
“The guys swung the bats and played a hard nine innings,” Portland Manager Arnie Beyeler said.
Left-hander Felix Doubront (1-0) contained the Phillies to three runs, two earned, on three hits, one walk and a hit batter over five innings. He struck out two.
One reason Doubront is beginning a second season in Double-A is a need to pound the strike zone.
Doubront got the message. He threw 71 pitches, 52 for strikes. He used only 24 pitches to retire the side in the third, fourth and fifth innings.
“That was one of my goals today, to throw strikes,” Doubront said. “I was a little off with my body control in the first two innings but then I got it.”
Doubront is one of several prospects on this touted Sea Dogs team. On Thursday, they gave a taste of what they can do.
Shortstop Jose Iglesias doubled and singled in four at-bats, with a stolen base. He looked sharp in the field, efficient and smooth.
Lin, the center fielder, recorded four RBI. He fouled off five pitches before lining an RBI single to center in the fifth. He then launched a three-run homer to center in the eighth.
Lin also showed speed (two stolen bases), outrageous range in the field, and a cannon arm (the arm was too strong on a sacrifice fly; Lin sailed it home but too high).
Exposito, who is a candidate for Red Sox catcher of the future, enjoyed a 2-for-4 night, including his three-run blast to left-center in the game-turning fifth inning.
Kalish (2 for 4) got the team going. He fouled off the first pitch and then worked a 2-2 count. After another foul ball, Kalish turned on Vance Worley’s fastball.
“He gave me two of them and I missed the first one,” Kalish said. He didn’t miss the second. “It was a good swing and a fun moment for the team. It set a nice tone and we had a good time.”
While that was the only Portland hit in the first, Sea Dogs batters made Worley (0-1) work, extending him to at least six pitches in the first five at-bats (33 pitches). The Phillies’ bullpen got busy in the first inning until Worley settled down.
Doubront gave up a run in the first (hit batter, single, balk, sacrifice fly) and two in the second (two hits, walk and a passed ball).
Doubront dominated from there.
Down 3-1, Iglesias led off the fifth with his double down the left-field line and advanced on an error. He scored on Jason Place’s groundout. Kalish doubled on a broken-bat bloop and scored the tying run on Lin’s single. Spears walked and Exposito’s home run made it 6-3. Insurance home runs followed.
Eammon Portice (one unearned run, two innings), Andrew Dobies (one run, one inning) and Jason Rice (1-2-3 ninth) also pitched for Portland.
NOTES: First baseman/outfielder Jon Still isn’t with the Sea Dogs and the Boston Red Sox have placed him on the temporary inactive list. Still, 25, led the Sea Dogs with 17 home runs last year. He was on the Triple-A roster most of spring training last month until being moved to Double-A before camp broke. He was expected to be a backup. Beyeler said he didn’t know why Still was missing. The paid attendance was 7,543. The actual crowd was 6,720.
Staff Writer Kevin Thomas can be reached at 791-6411 or at:
kthomas@pressherald.com
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