Sea Dogs vs Fisher Cats

August 21 2013 Back in Portland on a 82 degree sunny day, On this day Sea Dogs star lefty Henry Owens was suppose to start. Since being called up from Salem he has gone 2-0 with a 1.20 era. So it was dissapointing when they announced that Miguel Pena was the starting pitcher for Portland. Nothing againsed him but I really wanted to see Owens pitch. But that is the way it goes. Pitching for the Fisher Cats was right hander Marcus Walden. He has gone 6-12 but a nice 3.68 era at this point in the season. Intersting note New Hampshire cleanup hitter Adam Loewen who has spent time with Baltimore and Toronto was down in double a trying to work his way back up. Worth noting that he started out as a pitcher in the big leagues starting in 2006 with Baltimore. Lately has been in rightfield working way his up as a position player.

While Owens pitched very well going 7 innings without allowing a run on 5 hits. Marcus Walden was just as good going 7 2/3. Sea Dogs got on the board in the 4th inning. Christen Vazquez singled with one out, Peter Hissy then got a knock of his own to advance Vazquez to third. Derrik Gibson then hit into a 5 to 4 fielders choice scoring Vazquez. He was later caught stealing to end the inning. The Sea Dogs held a very slim 1-0 lead going into the 8th inning. Jeremy Kuhrt was brought in from the bullpen to pitch the 8th inning. NH thirdbaseman Andy Burns singled with 2 out. Next up Kevin Nolan tripled to score Burns. Tied ballgame! Loewen struck out to end the inning. Bottom of the 8th rolled around. Shannon Wilkerson led off the inning and he was hit by a pitch. Ryan Dent then sacrificed him to second. Now with a runner in scoring position Garin Cecchini (who in his first at bat extended him on-base game streak) grounded out to third but that advanced the runner to third. Next up JC Linares then walked. Micheal Almanzar who has had a up and down season with Portland may have got the biggest hit of his season by lining a ball to the corner to right. That scored 2 runs, he ended up at third with a triple. To add to that Vazquez singled scoring Almanzar to make the score Portland 4, New Hampshire 1 in the 8th inning. So a great inning for the Sea Dogs. In the top of the 9th inning with a 3 run lead for Portland. Kuhrt continued to struggle allowing 4 base runners on which scored. He was replaced by Noe Ramirez who recorded the final out to end the game. Well as it turned out that would be the last Sea Dogs game for me for the 2013 season. Went down for the last game on September 1 but heavy rain that morning forced the Sea Dogs to cancel the game. Oh well, at least I got tickets to exchange for the 2014 season. But got one more Red Sox game on Sunday September 22 in Boston. The last regular season game at Fenway.