PORTLAND – It took a while but summer is here.
That means fans flock to Hadlock Field, buying ice cream sandwich “biscuits,” waving at Slugger the mascot and settling in for an evening of baseball.
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And on a night like Saturday, a crowd of 6,266 enjoyed the treats, the 73-degree game-time temperature and a win by the hometown team.
The Portland Sea Dogs got a good-enough performance from their pitching “projects” and beat the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, 8-4.
Stolmy Pimentel, Junichi Tazawa and Miguel Gonzalez all allowed at least one run but minimized the damage as the offense came through.
Chih-Hsien Chiang broke a 3-3 tie with a three-run homer to the right-field bullpen in the fifth inning.
Earlier, Oscar Tejeda hit a two-run blast over the left-field wall. Reynaldo Rodriguez and Jon Hee also had RBI.
But the talk of the night was about the Sea Dogs’ pitching.
Portland has been the place for struggling prospects and pitchers coming back from surgery — Pimentel (9.00 ERA), Tazawa (Tommy John surgery in 2010) and Gonzalez (Tommy John, 2009).
Pimentel, 21, started and almost had his first clean outing since May 9. After yielding a walk on a full-count pitch with two outs in the third inning, he gave up two runs on another walk and two doubles.
“Tonight was the first night he introduced a slider and he threw some good ones,” Sea Dogs Manager Kevin Boles said. “And his fastball command was pretty good. It had some life and velocity (95 mph) to it.
“But in that third inning he left some pitches up in the zone. He’s real close. The stuff is getting better. We need to get him through a clean outing.”
Tazawa, 25, didn’t finish one inning in his first outing after rehab last Monday, so Saturday’s two innings (four hits, one run) was a success.
He struck out three with his curve and 92 mph fastball.
Gonzalez, 27, looked the best of all, facing 10 batters in three innings, striking out four, allowing a home run.
Gonzalez was acquired by the Red Sox from the Angels in the Rule V draft before the 2009 season, but he didn’t pitch because of the surgery.
In 2010, he pitched on a limited basis for Class A Salem (4.54), and is looking to come back stronger this year.
“I had my ups and downs last year,” Gonzalez said. “This year I’m getting back to where I was two years ago. Sometimes it’s just confidence that’s been missing.”
Gonzalez spotted his fastball well, which was complimented by a curve and change-up.
Blake Maxwell finished with another impressive stint, a 1-2-3 ninth with two strikeouts for his seventh save (ERA now 1.14).
Chiang’s home run adds to his team-leading numbers in homers (14) and RBI (55).
Tejeda now has three home runs and 26 RBI.
NOTES: Tonight’s game is sold out. After tonight, Portland will go on a nine-game, eight-day road trip that will conclude with four games in New Hampshire. The Sea Dogs will return home July 14 (Clay Buchholz bobblehead night).
Staff Writer Kevin Thomas can be reached at 791-6411 or:
kthomas@pressherald.com
Twitter: ClearTheBases
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