Binghamton 5 - Portland 0

 Rafael Montero threw six scoreless innings and matched a season-high with eight strikeouts as the Binghamton Mets topped the Portland Sea Dogs 5-0 Sunday night at NYSEG Stadium.

Montero had to work out of trouble in the first inning. After allowing a leadoff single to Shannon Wilkerson, Xander Bogaerts worked a full-count walk. A double steal put runners at second and third with nobody out, but Montero worked out of the jam. He forced Tony Thomas to foul out, struck out Travis Shaw, and got Michael Almanzar to ground out to end the threat. That began a stretch of nine-in-a-row retired by Montero.

In the bottom of the first, Josh Rodriguez reached first on an infield single up the middle against knuckleball pitcher Charlie Haeger. The next pitch hit Cesar Puello, putting the B-Mets in prime position to get the scoring started. Haeger uncorked a wild pitch to move the runners up to second and third, and then tossed another pitch past the catcher allowing Rodriguez to score the first run of the game.

The wild pitches continued to haunt Haeger in third inning. With runners at the corners and two outs, he threw one to the backstop that allowed Rodriguez to score for the second time in the game.

The 2-0 lead was plenty for Montero on the mound. He threw six shutout innings, and allowed four base hits as he kept Portland off the scoreboard for his fifth win of the season. He was relieved by Chase Huchingson, who threw two scoreless innings using just 16 pitches. The southpaw struck out two and faced only six hitters.

Allan Dykstra cushioned the lead in the bottom of the eighth inning by knocking his fourth home run of the season to lead off the inning. Two batters later, Darrell Ceciliani followed in Dykstra’s footsteps by crushing a no-doubt round-tripper over the right field wall. The lead was plenty for Jack Leathersich, who threw a scoreless ninth inning to seal the victory.

The series finale between the B-Mets (28-22) and the Sea Dogs (28-20) is Monday afternoon. RHP Jacob deGrom takes the hill for Binghamton against Portland RHP Brandon Workman. First pitch is scheduled for1:05 PM, with the Horizons Federal Credit Union Pregame Show starting at 12:50 PM on ESPN 1360 WYOS.

POSTGAME NOTES: Binghamton went 0-for-10 with RISP…This is the second shutout victory in 2013…Xorge Carrillo went 2-for-4, and got his first multi-hit game as a B-Met