
The Sea Dogs took four of five from the Fisher Cats with the win and improved to 33-15 at home this season.
Portland went in order in the first, but jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second against Casey Lawrence of the Fisher Cats. Michael Almanzar began the inning with a walk and a stolen base and scored on Jonathan Roof ’s single to right, putting the Sea Dogs in front 1-0.
After a Meneses double moved runners to second and third, Danny Bethea stepped to the plate for his first Double-A plate appearance. The designated hitter knocked a check swing chopper in front of the plate and was retired 1-3, but drove home Roof for his first RBI and made it 2-0 ’Dogs.
Mike Augliera took the hill for Portland and worked through the first two innings in perfect fashion before giving a run back in the third.
The righty had two down in the frame, but left a pitch up to Andy Fermin and he put it into the Portland bullpen for a solo homer, his third, and cut the lead in half, 2-1.
The Sea Dogs responded with another run of their own in the bottom of the third. Peter Hissey began the rally with a bunt single and scored with two outs on a single to center by Almanzar.
Almanzar contributed again with an RBI double in the fifth, which plated Blake Swihart from first and made it 4-1.
Augliera (4-8) continued to pitch well and had a stretch of five in a row retired before Matt Newman doubled with one out and moved to third on a single before scoring on a sac fly to center by Andy Burns which made it 4-2.
Portland continued to respond and tacked on a run in the sixth and eighth innings. Heiker Meneses, the hero from Sunday, hit a solo home run, his first since June 23, 2013 at Trenton, and made it 5-2. Ryan Dent added an RBI single in the eighth to make it the final margin of 6-2.
The starter Augliera worked into the eighth inning for the ’Dogs and was lifted after retiring the first two he faced. His went 7.2 innings with two runs on six hits, a walk and four strikeouts. Robby Scott and Noe Ramirez pitched 1.1 innings of scoreless relief.Lawrence (6-5) went the first five innings, tossing 104 pitches, and allowed four runs on seven hits.
The Eastern League All- Star break spans across today and Wednesday, before play resumes on Thursday. The ’Dogs and ’Cats will open up a four-game series Thursday night at 7:05 p.m.
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