After two weeks on the road, the Sea Dogs returned to Hadlock Field in style Tuesday night.
Pedro Castellanos and Olympic silver medalist Triston Casas each had three of Portland’s 14 hits and Chris Murphy combined with two relievers on an 11-0 shutout of the Binghamton Rumble Ponies.
A crowd of 4,938 saw Murphy allow a single to the game’s second batter, Jake Mangum, walk the third, and proceed to retire the next 20. A sixth-round draft pick in 2019, the left-handed Murphy made his Hadlock debut after being called up earlier this month and pitching in Binghamton and Somerset, New Jersey.
“He threw every pitch for a strike and he commanded the zone very well,” said Sea Dogs catcher Kole Cottam. “He’s always had great stuff, but (Tuesday) was special.”
Murphy (2-0) struck out seven and lowered his earned-run average to 2.12. He threw 89 pitches, 56 for strikes. Jose Disla followed with a perfect eighth and Tyler Olson with a hitless ninth.
Ronaldo Hernandez hit a pair of two-run doubles and Devlin Granberg added a two-run homer for the Sea Dogs (54-35), who have won 4 of 5 and retained their division lead.
Casas narrowly missed a home run on a 393-foot blast in the third and got fortunate in the sixth when a Binghamton outfielder lost a fly to shallow center in the sixth, resulting in a double. He also ripped an RBI single in the fourth. It was his first game at Hadlock since early July when he left to play for Team USA.
“We got a pretty packed house for a Tuesday night,” he said. “We came out and swung it well. It all started on the mound with Chris. He set the tempo.”
The six-game series continues Wednesday night at Hadlock.
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