READING, Pa. — Most of knuckleballer Charlie Haeger’s pitches wouldn’t break glass.

But his lobs Thursday night, and five RBI by Jeremy Hazelbaker, helped the Portland Sea Dogs break a season-worst seven-game losing streak with an 8-4 victory against the Reading Phillies before 6,540 at FirstEnergy Stadium.

“I can’t speak from experience because I never faced a knuckleballer, but it takes a lot of patience and he throws a lot of strikes,” said Hazelbaker.

Portland’s last win came at FirstEnergy Stadium more than a week ago. The Sea Dogs (54-77) need to go 7-4 in their last 11 games to avoid the franchise’s worst record.

The unpredictable movement of Haeger’s pitches kept Reading completely off the bases for three innings.

Haeger struck out six in 61/3 innings and by the time Reading caught on to the erratic motion of the baseball, it trailed by six runs.

“Anytime you get an early lead with a pitcher like Haeger out on the mound, it’s great and we just kept rolling,” Hazelbaker said.

Haeger faced a one-out, bases-loaded jam in the sixth, but forced a pop up, then got his sixth strikeout to escape.

In the seventh, Haeger left after loading the bases and throwing his 120th pitch. Kyle Fernandes ended the threat without any damage from Reading, which stranded 13 runners.

Haeger is 3-0 since joining the Sea Dogs in late July.

Hazelbaker went 4 for 5 with two home runs and five RBI.

The Sea Dogs took the lead two batters into the game when Hazelbaker blasted a two-run opposite-field home run off Tyson Brummett. In the eighth, Hazelbaker led off with a homer. He added RBI singles in the fourth and sixth.

“I felt really comfortable in the box tonight. I was just seeing the ball really well and just wanted to stay behind it,” said Hazelbaker, whose two homers give him 10 on the season and his second multihomer game of the season.

Hazelbaker has been one of the lone bright spots for Portland lately, hitting in 13 of his last 15 games. He has boosted his average from .238 to .261 during that span.

“Since the beginning of the season I watched a lot of tape of what worked at Greenville last year and I’ve gone back to that,” Hazelbaker said.

NOTES: Sunday’s game at Reading was rescheduled for Saturday due to the inclement weather (Hurricane Irene) expected. The teams will play a day-night doubleheader at 1 and 6:35 p.m. The games will be seven innings apiece. Portland left-hander Cesar Cabral was activated from the disabled list.

THIRD BASEMAN Will Middlebrooks and outfielder Chih-Hsien Chiang were named to the Eastern League’s all-star team, which is selected by managers, coaches and media members.

Middlebrooks hit .302 with 18 home runs and a .520 slugging percentage in 96 games with the Sea Dogs. He was leading the league with 80 RBI when he was called up to Triple-A Pawtucket on Aug. 19.

Chiang played in 88 games with Portland before being traded to Seattle on July 31. He led the league in average (.340), RBI (76), runs (68) and slugging percentage (.648) at the time.

 

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