The Portland Sea Dogs enjoyed a victory with two home runs.

One came from Aneury Tavarez, the man who almost made the major leagues this year.

The other was swatted by the can’t- miss big leaguer, Rafael Devers.

Those blasts and solid pitching gave Portland a 4-2 victory over the Reading Fightin Phils in an Eastern League opener Friday night at Hadlock Field.

Devers, 20, ranked the best third-base prospect in the game by milb.com, homered in his first Double-A at-bat, over the wall in right-center.

“It was fun watching him,” Sea Dogs Manager Carlos Febles said. “This is the guy we believe will do a lot of good things at this level. He has special skills. He’s got quick hands – some of the quickest hands in baseball.”

Reliever Ty Buttrey (1-0) got the win, pitching two scoreless innings with three strikeouts. Austin Maddox pitched a 1-2-3 ninth with two strikeouts for the save.

Starter Teddy Stankiewicz gave the Sea Dogs six strong innings, allowing four hits and two runs.

Reading loaded the bases with no outs in the first inning on two singles and a hit batter, but Stankiewicz limited the damage, inducing a sacrifice fly and a double play.

Devers tied it in the second. He saw eight pitches – all fastballs from Tom Eshelman – and hammered the eighth. It flew off his bat at 104 mph.

“I got comfortable since he was only throwing fastballs,” said Devers, with teammate Williams Jerez interpreting. “I felt really good for the first game.”

Devers ended the night 1 for 4 (groundout and two fly outs). In the field, Devers handled two grounders cleanly and caught a pop-up.

Tavarez rejoined the Sea Dogs on Tuesday after being sent back by the Baltimore Orioles. A Rule 5 draft pick by Baltimore, Tavarez stayed with the team through spring training but because he wasn’t put on the 25-man roster, had to be returned to the Red Sox.

“You can’t control what the front office is going to do,” Febles said. “The only thing he can control is playing the game the way he knows how to play.”

In the seventh, with the score tied, the Sea Dogs had one runner on after Jordan Procyshen’s second single. With two outs, Tavarez stepped in against Jesen Therrien (0-1).

“The game was tight and I had to do something for the team,” said Tavarez, who got a change-up from Therrien. “Look and swing hard.”

He did. The ball landed in the right- field bullpen.

NOTES: In the third, Andrew Pullin of Reading appeared to hit a home run off an advertising sign in front of the Sea Dogs’ bullpen bench in right field. The ball bounced hard and back into the field. Febles appealed, while Portland relievers pounded on the sign – which is actually a chain-link fence with a fabric sign – showing the ball couldn’t have bounced as hard as it did. The umpires conferred and ruled Pullin’s hit a double off a lower advertising sign – which is in play – made of plywood.

Ryan Court was sent from Portland to Triple-A Pawtucket after Marco Hernandez was called up to Boston. … Catcher Danny Bethea was put on the disabled list, which puts Portland’s roster at its 25-man limit. … Jose Rosario of the Sea Dogs was called for the first clock violation, given a strike for not stepping into the batter’s box in time. … Buttrey was called for two balks in the seventh inning but escaped the jam. The name on his jersey was misspelled: Buttery. … The announced paid attendance was 3,394. … Former Sea Dogs catcher John Nathans threw out the first pitch. Nathans is now a lawyer in the state Attorney General’s office.

The Sea Dogs’ mascot, Slugger, performed one of his best routines with the help of the plate umpire, Ryan Benson. After the third inning, Slugger brought out a small inflatable raft. Benson stepped into the bow with Slugger holding him from behind. As the “Titanic” movie theme song was played, Benson swayed from side to side with his arms out; it was Jack and Rose all over again.

Kevin Thomas can be reached at 791-6411 or:

kthomas@pressherald.com

Twitter: @ClearTheBases

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