BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — With Stephen Fife on the mound, the Sea Dogs didn’t figure to need a lot of runs Wednesday night at NYSEG Stadium.

But when small ball failed in the second inning, Ryan Dent provided the long ball, delivering his first Double-A home run to start Portland on its way to a 5-2 win over the Binghamton Mets.

Tim Federowicz led off the second with a double as Mets left fielder Juan Lagares got a bad jump on the ball. Mitch Dening sacrificed Federowicz to third, but Oscar Tejada’s ensuing fly ball to left wasn’t deep enough to score the Sea Dogs catcher.

“That was all Mitch,” Sea Dogs Manager Kevin Boles said. “It was a quality at-bat for him.”

Dent followed with his own quality at-bat, belting a 3-2 pitch over the left-center field fence for his first homer of the year.

“It was a mistake; I got a good pitch to hit,” Dent said. “I kept fouling off balls. I wanted to do damage to the ball. It felt good to help the pitcher early.”

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That was plenty for Fife, who gave up five hits and walked three in six scoreless innings for his Eastern League-leading 11th win in 15 decisions.

“I’ve had a few more walks of late than I would like, but today I had just three or four pitches that felt out of sync,” Fife said after his fourth scoreless start this season. “I kept attacking the (strike) zone, kept the ball low and got myself out of trouble.”

The Mets threatened Fife in the second when Lagares singled on a shot that handcuffed third baseman Will Middlebrooks. Lagares stole second and took third on a groundout, but was stranded when Portland first baseman Mark Wagner made a nice sliding catch of a foul pop hit by Eric Campbell.

“I try to make them put the balls in play,” said Fife, who struck out three. “I was able to locate all three pitches, and being able to mix keeps them off-balance.”

“He’s been consistent attacking the strike zone all year,” Boles said.

Portland added to its lead in the fifth off losing pitcher Tobi Stoner (4-5) as Ryan Khoury’s third hit of the game drove in Dent. Middlebrooks led off the sixth with a home run to center and Wagner made it 5-0 when he scored on a wild pitch later in the inning.

 

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