NEW BRITAIN, Conn. – The ball had that sweet sound when it left Oscar Tejeda’s bat.

It was barely on its downward trajectory when it struck the scoreboard beyond the left-field wall.

Manager Kevin Boles hopes it sends his Portland Sea Dogs on an upward trajectory.

Tejeda’s two-run blast in the fourth inning and a strong night from the bullpen propelled the Sea Dogs to a 4-3 win over the New Britain Rock Cats on Friday, snapping a four-game losing streak.

“I thought our bullpen responded well. We’ve had some struggles coming out of the bullpen,” Boles said. “We’ve had a hard time producing shut-down innings, but Will Latimer and Caleb Clay got the job done.”

Starter Chris Martin yielded three runs in 51/3 innings. Latimer tossed two scoreless innings, and Clay notched his second save with 12/3 innings of hitless relief.

The Rock Cats took a 1-0 lead in the second inning.

Deibinson Romero lashed a one-out single and advanced to second on a groundout. Nate Hanson then stroked a 1-2 pitch into center for an RBI single.

New Britain doubled the margin in the third when Wilkin Ramirez crushed a triple to center and scored on an infield out.

Portland (8-20) pounded left-hander Logan Darnell (3-1) in the fourth.

Derrik Gibson drew a leadoff walk, and Kolbrin Vitek grounded a single through a vacated area at second on a perfectly executed hit-and-run. Juan Carlos Linares lined a sacrifice fly to center, driving home Gibson. Tejeda then measured a 1-2 curveball and smashed it off the face of the scoreboard in left for a two-run homer, his third of the year.

“We definitely like his offensive potential,” Boles said.

“This is a guy repeating the league and it looks like he’s a little more comfortable. He’s taken to left field and he’s managing his (at-bats). He’s managing the strike zone a lot better.

“He’s got plus hand speed and can bring some excitement when he’s going right.”

An infield error, a long fly ball, a balk and an infield out enabled Ryan Dent to circle the bases in the fifth for a 4-2 lead.

New Britain (17-11) crept within a run in the sixth.

Martin (2-2, 4.30) yielded a pair of one-out singles, the first a blooper that fell between three fielders.

Latimer came in and gave up an RBI hit to Romero but got out of the inning when he snared Pedro Florimon’s grounder and turned it into a double play.

“It was a great (play) by Latimer,” Boles said. “To be able to finish that play limited the damage.”

Rock Cats pitchers set down the final 15 Portland hitters, but the Sea Dogs’ bullpen, which entered the game with a 5.11 ERA and as many saves blown as converted (three), did the job.

“They executed when the game was on the line and we took care of the baseball behind them,” Boles said of his relievers.

 

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