Bullpen Holds Strong in 5-2 Sea Dogs Win

Bridgewater Township, New Jersey – Hudson Potts led the offense with a 2-for-3 night, including a two-run homer, lifting the Portland Sea Dogs (74-61, 44-22) over the Somerset Patriots (81-52, 37-27) in a 5-2 win on Thursday at TD Bank Ballpark.

The Sea Dogs currently own an eight-game winning streak. This ties their season-high for consecutive wins and is the third time they have won eight straight this season.

The offense for Portland powered its way to the lead in the top of the first against Somerset starter Barrett Loseke. Wilyer Abreu led off, launching a ball to right center for a home run. It was Abreu’s fourth homer with the Sea Dogs this season and gave them a 1-0 lead.

The Patriots responded by taking the lead in the bottom of the second against Sea Dogs starter Kyle Hart. All with two outs, Eric Wagaman doubled, while Max Burt and Brandon Lockridge were hit by pitches to load the bases. MLB rehabber Harrison Bader singled to left, scoring Wagaman and Burt, giving Somerset a 2-1 advantage.

The Sea Dogs jumped out to another lead in the top of the fourth. Ceddanne Rafaela reached on a single and stole second base. He advanced to third on a groundout by Christian Koss. Niko Kavadas walks, and in the next at-bat. Tyler Dearden brought home Rafaela with a sacrifice fly. Hudson Potts followed by clearing the bases with a two-run homer, giving the Sea Dogs a 4-2 lead.

Portland added another run in the top of the seventh inning. Potts connected with a one-out base hit and advanced to second on a passed ball. Potts reached third on a groundout from Tyreque Reed and Wil Dalton doubled to left, scoring Potts, and increasing the Sea Dogs advantage to 5-2. The score would hold for the rest of the game, with the Sea Dogs taking their third-straight victory over the Patriots this week.

Dylan Spacke (2-5, 5.77 ERA) tossed 2.0 perfect innings in relief while striking out one in his second win of the season. Loseke (7-3, 3.50 ERA) hurled 3.1 innings, allowing three runs on two hits, walking four, and striking out four in the loss.

The Sea Dogs and Patriots play the fourth game of a six-game series on Friday with a 6:35 PM first pitch at TD Bank Ballpark. Portland sends RHP Sterling Sharp (1-1, 3.41 ERA) to the mound against RHP Clayton Beeter (0-0. 2.66 ERA).