After leading off the day for the Portland Sea Dogs with a double, Derek Miller promptly gambled and tried to steal third base.
He was easily thrown out.
“I like his aggressiveness but he picked the wrong time to do it,” Manager Carlos Febles said.
Wendell Rijo followed with a double and was stranded on second. Thus are the frustrating ways of these Sea Dogs, aggressively trying to make something happen and ending up with nothing.
Portland played 14 innings Saturday and scored once in a doubleheader with the Hartford Yard Goats, falling 6-0 and 2-1 at Hadlock Field.
The Sea Dogs have totaled two runs in their past four games. Not surprisingly they are last in the Eastern League in run production (2.89 per game). In the second game Saturday, Portland was 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position.
“We’re not doing the little things,” Febles said. “We’re not executing. We had chances but we’re not taking advantage of opportunities.”
Portland (6-11) also fell to last place in the East Division. Hartford (13-4) is in first.
Hartford began the day with two starting pitchers lined up for a doubleheader – Kyle Freeland (3-1) and Zach Jemiola (2-0).
The Sea Dogs had to piece together a pitching rotation after the scheduled first-game starter, Aaron Wilkerson, was promoted to Pawtucket. Portland had six relievers available, including spot starters Heri Quevedo (0-2) and Mike McCarthy (0-1).
Quevedo pitched four scoreless innings before being tagged for five straight hits in the fifth. All five scored.
“He just ran out of gas,” Febles said. “I should have had someone (warming) up sooner. That’s on me.”
Williams Jerez relieved Quevedo and gave up an RBI double but struck out two. He also allowed a run in the sixth.
The Sea Dogs managed six hits, including two Tim Roberson singles.
In the second game, Raimel Tapia of Hartford hit a first-inning home run. Dillon Thomas’ RBI single in the fourth made it 2-0.
Portland avoided the shutout in the seventh on Cole Sturgeon’s double and Aneury Tavarez’s RBI single.
Jemiola went the distance, allowing four hits. McCarthy gave up four hits over five innings.
The teams play again at 1 p.m. Sunday as Hartford goes for the series sweep.
This weekend’s games were scheduled to be played in Hartford, but the Yard Goats’ new stadium isn’t ready.
NOTES: Red Sox left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez may return to Hadlock Field on Friday. He’ll begin making rehab starts this week, Boston Manager John Farrell said. Farrell mentioned Portland but also said Rodriguez would stay on a five-day schedule, which would be Thursday (he pitched an extended spring training game Saturday). But the Sea Dogs are off Thursday. They begin their next homestand Friday. … If Rodriguez starts Thursday, he could pitch for Triple-A Pawtucket at Syracuse … Rodriguez, who pitched in Portland in 2014, was to be part of Boston’s rotation until sufferng a slight dislocation of his right kneecap in spring training. …
Bryce Brentz played his second game for the Sea Dogs since coming out of extended spring training in Fort Myers, Florida, going 1 for 3 with a single. Brentz had been sidelined with strained intercostal (rib cage) muscles. … Former Sea Dogs pitcher Keith Couch also left extended spring training this week and started for Pawtucket, allowing six runs (four earned) in seven innings of a 7-4 loss to Lehigh Valley. … Sea Dogs outfielder Henry Ramos, on the disabled list with a sore knee, received good news that there was no extensive damage. He will begin baseball activities soon … The announced paid attendance for the doubleheader was 3,564.
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