Here’s what the Portland Sea Dogs had heard about their new shortstop, Tzu-Wei Lin: He had suffered a concussion last year when the celebration of a walk-off victory became a little too exuberant.

So here’s what they did Tuesday, when Lin sprinted home with the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning at Hadlock Field: They formed a protective cocoon of sorts around him near home plate while they jumped up and down and reveled in yet another improbable victory.

Lin, playing his fifth game for the Sea Dogs, hit a leadoff triple off Trenton Thunder pitcher Mark Montgomery in the 10th, then waited anxiously at third base while four batters tried to bring him home. Finally, with two outs and two strikes on Sam Travis, Montgomery unleashed a slider that skidded past catcher Francisco Arcia to the backstop, allowing Lin to dash to the plate and then, safely, whoop it up with his new teammates.

“We were all guarding Lin,” said Madison Younginer, who earned the win in the 3-2 victory. “To have that kind of fun, it’s 30 seconds of just great bonding as a team. We’ll take every one we can get.”

Portland (35-62) won a third consecutive game for the first time since May 25-27. Its last five victories at Hadlock have come in the final at-bat, including a 5-4 triumph Monday on a bases-loaded, fielder’s-choice grounder with two outs in the bottom of the ninth.

Younginer improved to 4-4 by retiring all his nine batters, requiring only 36 pitches to do so – 25 strikes. As he sat in the dugout in the bottom of the 10th, knowing that Heri Quevedo would pitch the 11th if need be, Younginer turned to backup catcher Jake Romanski and offered a prediction.

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“We’ve done that a few times this year. So I told Romanski that we’re going to pull a Sea Dogs walk off, get a wild pitch. He’s going to go slider in the dirt, and all of a sudden, slider in the dirt,” Younginer said. “I looked for Romanski and gave him a high-five.”

Younginer lowered his ERA to 3.02 with his efficient outing. He followed Justin Haley, who allowed two runs on just two hits, with seven strikeouts, in five innings, and Kyle Martin, who tossed two scoreless frames.

Lin had collected his first RBI as a Sea Dog with a sharp single to left field in the second inning. He arrived from Class A Salem on Thursday, joining the Sea Dogs in New Hampshire. Lin, a native of Taiwan who was signed for $2.05 million by the Boston Red Sox in 2012, hit .281 in Salem with 17 extra-base hits and 15 stolen bases. But he had just one hit in his first four games with Portland.

“The first day, when I got in in New Hampshire and met the team, I was a little nervous. But now I’m getting more settled and comfortable,” Lin said through an interpreter.

Lin said he was looking for a fastball on the inner half of the plate from Montgomery and that’s exactly what he got, pulling it into the right-center field gap. He stumbled a little as he neared second base but never hesitated about going for third and was in easily.

Then the nerves started building. Manuel Margot hit a one-hopper back to Montgomery for an easy out. Reed Gragnani worked a walk, but Carlos Asuaje followed with a groundball to first baseman Dan Fiorito, who went to the ground to snare it and tagged Asuaje out as Lin was forced to retreat to third base.

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When Montgomery got ahead of Travis 0-2, Lin said he was anticipating a potential pitch in the dirt. So he got a good read on it when it happened, and even though the ball caromed hard back to Arcia, he knew he was going to score.

“The past couple of games I didn’t help too much on the offensive side,” Lin said. “And today I got my first RBI and a winning run. So that means a lot to me.”

NOTES: Left-handed reliever Robby Scott was transferred to Triple-A Pawtucket before Tuesday’s game. He had a 2.06 ERA in 25 games with Portland.

 


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