Sea Dogs lose to Squirrels again.

August 8 2013 Well my back to back games in Portland concluded with a day game vs the Richmond Flying Squirrels. It was a overcast afternoon at the ballpark, about 68 degrees. After a disapointing end to the previous night Sea Dogs game we are hoping for a win at Hadlock. Got my food, drink and went to section 105 right behind home plate and settled in. Before the game started Slugger the Sea Dog and his mascot friends had a parade around the field at Hadlock. That was interesting. Pitching for the Sea Dogs was Terry Doyle. (Seems like I've seen him many times this season, actually this is the 4th time I've seen him) Pitching for Richmond was righthander Craig Westcott who had coming in a 4-11 record with an era of 4.37. Doyle came out pitching strong retiring the first 7 batters he faced. He had help from Sea Dog outfielders Matty Johnson and Shannon Wilkerson with circus catches. In the 3rd Squirrels catcher Tyler LaTorre singled to break up the no-no. After another hit from Richmond Joe Panic singled in LaTorre to give the Flying Squirrels a 1-0 lead. But Doyle settled down and pitched 3 1/3 scoreless innings until he gave up a 3 run homer to Joe Panic. By then the Sea Dogs haden't scored a run and were trailing 4-0. Doyle ended up pitching 7 innings giving up 8 hits 4 run (3 earned) 1 walk 4 strikeouts.

It was a quiet day for the Sea Dogs bats again. They did manage to get a run in the 7th inning when Matt Spring reached on an error by the third baseman. JC Linares then doubled, Spring to third. Ryan Dent then grounded out to third which advanced both runners. But that was all for the Sea Dogs offense. In the 8th inning Portland loaded the bases but could not get any one home. Garin Cacchini a mid season call up from Salem reached base 3 times by via the walk. His on base percentage coming into this game was .406. By far the leader for Portland. The next highest is Christian Vazquez at .366. Vazquez on the Red Sox 40man roster coming to the season we all know what he could do behind the plate defensively. But his bat was in question. But he has seemed to silence those critics by hitting .277 with 5 homers. So back to the game.. Portland brought in relief pitcher Miguel Celestino and let me tell you he was bringing heat! I was sitting near a scout. I could see his radar gun and several times it was reading 98 mph. Let me tell you that is pretty fast. He pitched well for Portland that afternoon going 2 innings 1 hit 0 runs he struck out 3. So with 2 out in the 9th Matty Johnson singled and Shannon Wilkerson struck out to end the game. Sea Dogs fell once again to the Flying Squirrels. This time 4-1. Next up August 21 vs New Hampshire.