PORTLAND — The Double-A education of Red Sox pitching prospect Stolmy Pimentel began with some rough lessons Saturday afternoon.

Pimentel, a 21-year-old from San Cristobal in the Dominican Republic, had trouble throwing strikes and lasted only three innings, giving up six hits and five earned runs, four coming in the first.

Additional Photos

Sea Dogs second baseman Oscar Tejeda is backed up by shortstop Ryan Dent while lunging for a throw that's too late to prevent Reading's Harold Garcia from stealing second base. John Patriquin/Staff Photographer

Tim Federowicz of the Sea Dogs raps a single Saturday during a 13-5 loss to the Phillies at Hadlock Field. Federowicz had two hits to raise his season average to .500. John Patriquin/Staff Photographer

Those runs jump-started the Reading Phillies, who for the second consecutive game pounded the Sea Dogs, rapping out 11 extra-base hits for a 13-5 win before a crowd of 4,036 at Hadlock Field.

Phillies center fielder Chris Frey, who played for Triple-A Colorado Springs last year, drove in four runs with a pair of doubles, a home run and a single. First baseman Matt Rizzotti had three doubles and scored three times, and designated hitter Cody Overbeck hit a double and a home run, scored twice and drove in two.

“We had some very impressive hitters today,” said Phillies Manager Mark Parent. “We’ve got some guys who are returning and they’ve got something to prove.”

In losing to the Phillies for the second time in three games, the Sea Dogs were once again done in by their starting pitching. On Friday, Brock Huntzinger had trouble locating his fastball for strikes, and Pimentel had the same problem Saturday. He was up in the zone, got behind most batters and never had a chance to mix in his off-speed stuff. He threw only 38 of his 69 pitches for strikes.

“I think it was a little bit emotions — first game at the Double-A level,” said Portland catcher Tim Federowicz, who caught Pimentel in Class A last year. “He started to try to do a little too much, trying to overthrow. Think about it, he hasn’t thrown in five or six days, and that was down in spring training.

“So he’s going to be fine. He’s got to learn to settle down out there, which I’m sure he will. He’ll be fine. He’s a great pitcher, you guys will see that as the season goes on.”

Pimentel made no excuses. Nerves, he said, didn’t have anything to do with his performance. Lack of command did.

“I was a little high in the zone,” he said. “And when you are high in the zone, you cannot get an out because you’re not throwing strikes. That’s what happened.

“It’s going to happen sometimes, and you have to keep going and prepare for the next time.”

Pimentel retired the first batter, then gave up a first-pitch home run to Harold Garcia into the right-field pavilion.

After the second out, Rizzotti doubled to left. Pimentel walked the next two batters, and Derrick Mitchell hit a grounder into the shortstop hole to score a run. Tim Kennelly followed with a chopper up the middle that drove in two. Pimentel finally got out of the inning when Federowicz picked Kennelly off first.

Reading went up 5-0 in the third when Rizzotti and Overbeck hit back-to-back doubles over center fielder Che-Hsuan Lin’s head. With the wind blowing out, the ball flew off the bat and sent Lin, who plays a shallow center field, sprinting to the wall.

“The ball was carrying a lot today,” said Sea Dogs Manager Kevin Boles. “(Lin) did make an adjustment later, he shifted back but this was one of those days when the ball was really carrying quite a bit.

“But that was a credit to their approach. Those guys were driving the ball today.”

The Sea Dogs closed to within 6-3 in the fourth, when Federowicz and Oscar Tejeda hit back-to-back doubles and Will Middlebrooks hit a two-run homer over the center-field scoreboard.

Middlebrooks had four of Portland’s 11 hits and drove in three runs.

“That was good to see,” said Boles.

The teams close out their four-game series at 1 p.m. today, and Boles said the Sea Dogs’ plan is simple: “establishing the fastball, working ahead in the count.” 

Staff Writer Mike Lowe can be contacted at 791-6422 or at: mlowe@pressherald.com

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