Portland 5, Binghamton 2

The Portland Sea Dogs collected ten hits, including two home runs, and took the series by defeating the Binghamton Mets 5-2 tonight at NYSEG Stadium.



Portland jumped on the board in the second. For the second straight game, Tim Federowicz led off the frame with a double. Two batters later, Ryan Dent gave the Sea Dogs a 2-0 lead by driving his first home run at the Double-A level over the left field fence off B-Mets starter Tobi Stoner.



The Sea Dogs added to their lead in the fifth. Dent reached on a fielder’s choice and moved into scoring position on Heiker Meneses’ single to left. After Jeremy Hazelbaker flied out, Ryan Khoury came through with a run-scoring single to right field.



The power did not stop for the Sea Dogs in the sixth. Will Middlebrooks made his presence known with a home run to right-centerfield off Stoner to lead off the inning. Middlebrooks had been 1-for-10 with five strike outs in the series before the dinger, his 14th of the season.



After Mark Wagner singled and Mitch Dening reached on a throwing error by Reese Havens, Rhiner Cruz was brought in to relieve Stoner. With runners at the corners, Cruz’s fifth pitch to Oscar Tejeda sailed to the backstop and allowed Wagner to come home with Portland’s fifth run.



While the Sea Dogs tagged Stoner for five runs on nine hits, the B-Mets could not finish their chances against Stephen Fife. Binghamton had at least one baserunner in all but one inning against Fife, but could not get on the board. The righty tossed six scoreless frames before giving way to Charley Rosario.

Rosario came on in the seventh and allowed a lead-off double to Eric Campbell. Following fly outs by Matt den Dekker and Havens, Niuman Romero singled up the middle to plate Campbell and cut the deficit to four. Romero had entered the game in the fifth inning as a defensive replacement for Jordany Valdespin at short.



In the eighth, Binghamton doubled their run total with one swing of the bat. Dusty Ryan launched his third home run of the season, taking Rosario deep over the left field fence with two outs. It would prove to be Binghamton’s final run.

Blake Maxwell took over in the ninth and made quick work of Binghamton in a perfect inning. He struck out the final two he faced to collect his eleventh save.



Fife earned his league-leading eleventh win of the year, while Stoner suffered his fifth loss. Edgar Ramirez allowed one hit in two scoreless innings and Josh Stinson fired a scoreless ninth for the B-Mets.



Binghamton (42-63) hits the road for a four-game series against the Harrisburg Senators. RHP Matt Harvey (0-3, 7.15) will face RHP Erik Arnesen (6-3, 2.78) with first pitch set for 7:00pm. The Horizons Federal Credit Union Pre-Game Show begins at 6:45pm on Newsradio 1290 WNBF.