Hot weather, Hot bats

July 20 2011,
Well very warm day at Hadlock Field. Today the Sea Dogs played the Binghamton Mets. Of corse the AA affiliate of the New York Mets. Pitching for the Sea Dogs was righty Brock Huntzinger. Huntzinger in 16 starts so far this season has a 5-7 record with a 6.69 era. Portland got on the board first when Jeremy Hazelbaker reached on a walk then advanced to second by a hit from Ryan Khoury. Hazelbaker scored on a error by the pitcher. Dogs scored again in the second when Hazelbaker drove in Heiker Meneses who doubled with 2 out. Mets came back in the top of the 3rd when Alan Dykstra (no relation to Lenny Dykstra) homered to tie the game 3-3. Top of the 4th Mets left fielder B Maldonado (program did not say what full name was) homerd to give the Mets a 4-3 lead. Sea Dogs bounced back in the bottom half when Sea Dogs All Star outfielder Chih-Hsien Chiang drove in a run with a single. In the 5th Mets center fielder M Dan Dekker hit a homer then in the 6th Raul Reyes doubled later scored on a ground out. So lets see after 5 1/2 innings the score stood at Mets 6 Sea Dogs 4. In the Sea Dogs bottom of the 6th Mitch Dening singled, Meneses walked. Hazelbaker who had walked, singled and reached on a error struck out. The Ryan Khoury singled to drive in Dening. After Chiang struck out, Will Middlebrooks launched a 3 run homer over the Maine Monster to give the Sea Dogs a 8-6 lead. Portland got another run in the 7th on a rbi single from Hazelbaker. In the 8th Sea Dogs brought in reliever Blake Maxwell. Maxwell had spent some time in aaa Pawtucket was recently sent back to Portland. In Portland he has been the closer converting 9/11 save opportunities with a nifty 1.52 era. The 8th inning for Maxwell was not so nifty though. On this hot day the Mets bats were hot scoring 2 runs to tie the game. The game stayed tied until the bottom of the 9th when Mitch Dening launched a walk off homer to end the game. The long day had come to an end.
Next up: July 30 Portland vs Altoona, also Picnic in the Park day for the Sea Dogs