HARRISBURG, Pa. — Scoring three runs against one of the best pitchers in the Eastern League was not enough to prevent the Portland Sea Dogs from a 6-3 loss Tuesday night against Harrisburg.

The Sea Dogs are hardly the first team victimized by Senators starter Tom Milone, who registered his eighth straight quality start and won his 11th game of the season.

His ERA crept up a bit to 2.93, still good enough for second in the league.

Portland Manager Arnie Beyeler could not hold his hitters at fault for their effort against the red-hot Milone.

“I thought we did a good job,” Beyeler said. “He didn’t shut us out. We were lucky to score three runs off of him and be in a position to do some things, but those were two pretty good pitchers out there.”

The other pretty good pitcher was Portland starter Kyle Weiland, who went five innings. He allowed five hits, but two were home runs and two were doubles. All four of those hits led to runs for the Senators, who scored single runs in innings two through five.

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Milone retired 11 straight batters after Nate Spears’ first-inning double; the streak started with Ray Chang’s RBI groundout.

Luis Exposito broke the streak with a leadoff double to the left center-field gap in the fifth. Milone’s wild pitch moved Exposito to third, and the Sea Dogs barely managed to get him home.

Ryan Lavarnway popped up and Juan Carlos Linares tapped a bouncer back to Milone as Exposito stayed at third. Chih-Hsien Chiang then hit a shallow liner that fell just in front of Jose Valdez in left to score Exposito.

Spears’ double in the first was not hit much harder. It appeared to be a routine fly ball to right-center, but center fielder Edgardo Baez and right fielder Michael Burgess let it drop between them. Spears, running hard out of the box, was safe at second on a close play.

Weiland, who fell to 5-8, hit Harrisburg shortstop Josh Johnson with a fastball in the first. That drew a long stare from Johnson, but Weiland said Johnson didn’t say anything to him. Johnson barreled over Portland catcher Lavarnway on a play at the plate Aug. 1.

Beyeler expressed no hard feelings over the hit at the time, calling it a “good, clean hit.” Johnson, however, said the hit was retaliation for some pitches in that four-game series.

Weiland did not admit hitting Johnson on purpose but didn’t exactly deny it, either.

“There were a few things that probably could have been said differently that last homestand,” Weiland said. “Hopefully it’s past.”

 


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