8/21/11

Binghamton 7, Portland 6

Jean Luc Blaquiere smashed a tie-breaking, two-run home run in the eighth inning to push Binghamton past Portland 7-6 at Hadlock Field Sunday afternoon. The win capped a sweep of the Sea Dogs and was the B-Mets fourth consecutive triumph.



Binghamton (56-71) broke through to take the lead in the second against Brock Huntzinger. Brahiam Maldonado led off with an infield single. With one out, Maldonado broke for second on a hit-and-run. Dusty Ryan swung and poked a soft liner through the right side to reach base and send Maldonado to third. Eric Campbell made it count with an RBI single to right. A second run came home when Blaquiere smoked a one-hopper to second that was booted by Jon Hee. The carom settled in centerfield, which allowed Ryan to score from second on the error.



Portland (53-74) got a run back in the bottom of the frame off Tobi Stoner. Jeremy Hazelbaker worked a one-out walk and reached scoring position with his team-leading 30th stolen base of the season. With two outs, Hee drove him home with a single to center.



The B-Mets extended the lead further in the third inning. Matt den Dekker started the stanza with a bunt single to first. Reese Havens stepped in with one out and joined den Dekker on base by working a walk. Maldonado followed Havens and plated den Dekker with an RBI double to right-center. Allan Dykstra brought Havens home with a groundout to first to round out the inning.



Stoner worked a quick third inning, but was greeted rudely in the fourth by Reynaldo Rodriguez. The Sea Dogs first baseman blistered a 2-2 fastball from the right-hander over the left-centerfield wall for a solo homer to draw Portland within two.



The Sea Dogs completed the comeback in the fifth. After Stoner retired the first two hitters, Mark Wagner doubled and Rodriguez singled ahead of Hazelbaker, who clobbered a three-run homer to right which put Portland on top 5-4.



Stoner departed after the bomb in favor of Brad Holt, who was stellar in relief. The former starter kept the B-Mets in the game with 3 1/3 innings of relief and would end up the winner.



Huntzinger, who settled down after the first three innings, retired eight in a row until reaching Ryan with one out in the sixth. The Binghamton designated hitter deposited a fastball over the left-centerfield wall for his fourth homer of the season to knot up the score. The Sea Dogs starter departed to a no-decision after six innings. He allowed five runs on seven hits and struck out a career-high 11 hitters.

Jeremy Kehrt hurled a scoreless seventh for Portland and handed the ball off to Kyle Fernandes for the eighth. After issuing a one-out walk to Ryan, Fernandes left a fastball up in the zone to Blaquiere with two outs. The B-Mets backstop unloaded and smacked his second homer of the season over the centerfield wall to provide a two-run cushion.



The lead proved vulnerable in the eight when Holt served up a solo homer to Hee. However, Portland would not threaten again. Rhiner Cruz replaced Holt in the ninth and fired a shutout frame to seal up the sweep and his sixth save.

Both teams managed 11 hits in the seesaw affair. Maldonado went 2-for-5 to extend his hitting streak to 10 games and Ryan was 2-for-2 with three runs scored.

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