ERIE, Pa. – The Portland Sea Dogs took advantage of costly Erie mistakes on their way to a 10-6 come-from-behind victory over the SeaWolves before 1,055 at Jerry Uht Park on Wednesday.

After falling behind 4-0, Portland stormed back to tie the game in the top of the fifth on Ray Chang’s two-run single. Ryan Khoury started the rally by driving a ball deep over the left center-field fence off Erie starter Duane Below.

“I was just trying to have a good at-bat to start out the inning,” said Khoury. “We had some runs to make up and I got into a good count and tried to put the barrel on it from there.”

Erie first baseman Michael Bertram made two errors in the fifth to aid the Sea Dogs’ rally.

Below, who is coming off Tommy John elbow surgery, was effective early, spreading six hits through the first four innings, but ran into trouble and a high pitch count in the fifth.

The Sea Dogs broke the game open in the seventh, scoring six times off the SeaWolves’ bullpen. Nate Spears led off the inning with a double off Ramon Garcia for his fourth hit of the game.

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Andy Shawler relieved Garcia and allowed back-to-back singles by Che-Hsuan Lin and Chang. Chang’s single gave Portland its first lead of the game at 5-4.

Shawler looked like he was going to escape the seventh after Chang’s RBI single, retiring two straight batters before he feel apart.

Shawler walked Yamaico Navarro before Khoury followed with his second hit of the game, a two-run single. Chih-Hsien Chiang chased Shawler with a two-run triple, extending the Sea Dogs’ lead to 9-4.

Portland made it 10-4 when Chiang scored on Bertram’s third error of the game.

“The guys hung in there tonight and swung the bats, and we got some big hits when we needed them,” said Portland Manager Arnie Beyeler.

“We just chipped away, stayed aggressive and took advantage of some walks and errors.”

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Chang finished the game 4 for 5 with three RBI.

“He has a lot of life in his bat,” said Beyeler. “He’s a dangerous guy in our lineup.

Erie scored four runs off Portland starter Robert Coello, who wasn’t involved in the decision but hung in there and kept the Sea Dogs in the game without having his best stuff.

Erie scored two runs in the second inning. Back-to-back doubles by Cesar Nicolas and Michael Bertram gave the SeaWolves a 1-0 lead. Cale Iorg drove home Bertram with the second run of the inning.

The SeaWolves rallied again the bottom of the fourth. Bertram doubled and scored on Andy Bouchie’s two-out home run, his fourth of the season. Coello got Justin Henry on a fly ball to end the inning.

“He was up in the zone tonight, but (Coello) battled and gave us four innings and kept us in there,” said Beyeler.

The Sea Dogs’ bullpen held Erie to just two runs from there.

 


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