PORTLAND – It could have been a pivotal situation for the Portland Sea Dogs, a game changer.
Instead, it was a missed opportunity. Two missed opportunities, actually, both coming in a 6-3 loss to Bowie on Wednesday night at Hadlock Field.
With the bases loaded, two outs and the Sea Dogs trailing by a run, Anthony Rizzo struck out looking to end the bottom of the third inning.
An inning later, with Portland still down a run with two outs, Che-Hsuan Lin ended the inning by grounding out, stranding two more runners.
The Sea Dogs finished with nine runners left on base.
“Get a hit,” Sea Dogs Manager Arnie Beyeler said of the solution to his team’s problem. “They pitched out of it and we left some runners out there in some situations.
“We didn’t, situationally, hit very well in the third or fourth innings.”
A night after outhitting the Sea Dogs 19-17, the Baysox continued their hot hitting to win despite two home runs by Rizzo.
“They were good at-bats, too, with runners in scoring position,” Rizzo said of his team’s missed chances. “I knew I had the bases loaded and we came up short. The guy made a great pitch. But it’s really about getting consistent at-bats.”
Bowie (60-50) tagged four Sea Dogs pitchers, including starter Kyle Weiland, for 14 hits. The Baysox entered the game with a team batting average of .262, and had 60 hits in their five previous games.
Bowie took a 2-0 lead in the top of the second on Carlos Rojas’ two-run double, which fell beyond the reach of left fielder Jorge Padron.
Rizzo cut Portland’s deficit to 2-1 with his team-leading 12th home run on a 3-2 count to open the second inning.
Bowie, paced by winning pitcher Steve Johnson, allowed nine hits to the Sea Dogs (53-57).
Bowie took a 4-1 lead in the fifth on Joel Guzman’s two-run homer, which easily cleared the Coca-Cola bottle atop the Maine Monster in left field. Four batters later, Jonathan Tucker drove in Brandon Waring to give Bowie a 5-1 lead before Weiland was lifted in favor of Daniel Turpen, the second of Portland’s four pitchers.
“We didn’t pitch very well,” Beyeler said. “When we’re using four or five guys a night, we’re not doing our job.
“Our starters have to do a little better of a job getting into games. When they’re in deep counts and working real hard to get outs, they’re not going to be able to do that. The same thing coming out of the (bullpen).”
The Baysox added a run in the seventh on Waring’s RBI single, and Rizzo’s two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth cut Bowie’s lead to 6-3 before Pedro Beato relieved in the ninth and got Chih-Hsien Chiang to ground into a game-ending double play.
NOTES: Turpen made his debut in the Boston Red Sox organization, allowing a run on two hits and striking out two. He was part of a weekend trade that sent reliever Ramon Ramirez to San Francisco. Ryne Reynoso made his Sea Dogs debut when he relieved Turpen in the eighth.
Staff Writer Rachel Lenzi can be reached at 791-6415 or at:
rlenzi@pressherald.com
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