Ponies Drop Series Opener To Sea Dogs in Portland

 

BINGHAMTON, NY– The Binghamton Rumble Ponies (3-6) fell to the Portland Sea Dogs 6-5 in the bottom of the ninth on an error Tuesday night in the series opener at Hadlock Field.

With the game tied at five in the ninth, Devlin Granberg hit a leadoff double against Michel Otanez (0-1). After Pedro Castellanos grounded out to third and an intentional walk to Tyler Dearden, the Sea Dogs had runners on first and second with one out. The next batter Kole Cottam hit a groundball to second that went off the glove of second basemen Luke Ritter and into the outfield allowing Granberg to score.

The Ponies raced out to an early 3-0 lead in the first on an RBI double by Ronny Mauricio, a bases loaded walk to Johneshwy Fargas, and a bases loaded balk by Portland starter Jay Groome. Groome would only go 0.1 IP allowing three runs, two hits, and three walks. Mauricio would finish 3-5 with three doubles, an RBI, and a run scored.

Portland (5-5) responded with five unanswered runs. In the third, Christian Koss had an RBI double and Tyler Dearden hit a sac fly to cut the Ponies deficit to 3-2. In the fifth, back-to-back RBI singles from Cottom and Cameron Cannon put Portland ahead 4-3.

In the seventh, with the Ponies trailing 5-3, Francisco Alvarez walked and Brett Baty reached on an infield single. Mauricio’s groundout to first moved the runners over, setting up a wild pitch during Ritter’s at-bat that scored Alvarez to pull the Ponies to within one. Then with runners on the corners and two out, an error by the shortstop Koss on a ground ball by Hayden Senger allowed Baty to come home to tie the game.

Ponies starter Mitch Ragan allowed two runs and two hits over four innings, with three walks and five strikeouts in the no-decision.

The Ponies and Sea Dogs continue their series on Wednesday night with first pitch at 6:00 PM on Newsradio 1290 WNBF and 92.1FM as well as on MiLB.com

Postgame Notes: Ponies LHP Nate Fisher pitched two scoreless innings in relief…Alvarez was 1-3 with two runs scored and two walks…Baty also had a hit, a walk, and scored two runs….the Ponies drew nine walks on the night.