PORTLAND — After watching the first three Sea Dogs bat Tuesday night, Hadlock Field fans might have glimpsed the future Red Sox outfield.

Carl Crawford walked.

Jackie Bradley Jr. moved him over on a groundout.

After Crawford stole third base, Bryce Brentz scored him with a sacrifice fly.

Crawford, the 10-year major league veteran, played seven innings in the Sea Dogs’ 11-3 loss to the Trenton Thunder. He batted four times, going 1 for 2 with two walks and an infield single.

“It’s nice to walk but I’d rather put the bat on the ball,” Crawford said. “But I was able to get into a good rhythm at the plate.”

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Having missed the first three months of the season with wrist and elbow injuries, Crawford is on a rehab assignment.

He gave the sold-out Hadlock crowd of 7,368 a scare when he went down in the third inning, fouling a pitch off his right knee. After being tended to by trainer Brandon Henry, Crawford got up and stayed in the game.

“One of those things, I’ll know how it feels (today),” Crawford said.

Crawford made plays in the field, including a ball off the left-field wall that he got to second base quickly, holding Addison Maruszak to a single.

“I’ve been throwing like that (in Florida),” Crawford said. “It doesn’t hurt when I throw like that.”

While Crawford should be back in the majors at the end of the month, and Bradley and Brentz are top prospects on a path to the big leagues, another Sea Dogs prospect was on display.

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And Anthony Ranaudo had a rough night.

Ranaudo pitched only three innings, giving up seven hits and five runs, four earned. He walked a batter and hit another.

It was the third time in four starts that Ranaudo didn’t make it past the third inning. His earned-run average is up to 6.69.

He recorded no strikeouts while his once-vaunted fastball was timed between 88 and 90 mph.

“I didn’t have my best fastball today and didn’t command it very well,” said Ranaudo, who was slowed in spring training by a groin injury and didn’t make his first start until May 15.

“Everything is fine. Probably just a little dead arm from finally getting back on a five-day routine.”

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Ranaudo escaped a bases-loaded/one-out jam in the first inning, but the first six Trenton batters in the third inning reached base, including Zoilo Almonte’s three-run homer to center field.

As for prospects Bradley and Brentz, Bradley went 1 for 4 with an RBI single, and Brentz went 0 for 3 with an RBI and run.

Brentz reached on an error in the fourth, stole second and scored on Marquez Smith’s single.

In the seventh inning, Ryan Dent reached on an error. Crawford hit a slow bouncer to first base and beat the throw to the pitcher covering. Dent scored on Bradley’s line single to right.

 

NOTES: Crawford will stay with the Sea Dogs when they begin a three-game series tonight against the New Hampshire Fisher Cats in Manchester. Jacoby Ellsbury, another rehabbing outfielder, also will join the Sea Dogs, according to media reports from Oakland, Calif., where the Red Sox are playing.

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Staff Writer Kevin Thomas can be contacted at 791-6411 or at: kthomas@pressherald.com

Twitter: ClearTheBases

 


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