The Sea Dogs had gone the first three games of the series without scoring first, but altered that trend with a run in the second. Sean Coyle singled off of the starter Jairo Heredia and moved to third on Keury De La Cruz’s double to right with one out. Jonathan Roof plated the run with a 20-foot groundout to third.
Eduardo Rodriguez took the hill for Portland and made his debut in the Red Sox organization. The southpaw came out of the gate and began his outing with a strikeout and a scoreless first.
Leading 1-0 in the fourth, Rodriguez retired the first two men he faced before Dan Fiorito stepped in and tied the game at 1-1, with a mammoth solo shot over the Maine Monster in left-centerfield.
Portland jumped back in front with another tally in the bottom of the fifth. Heiker Meneses hit a lead-off double and scored two batters later on Shannon Wilkerson’s chip-shot single to right field off former Sea Dog Cesar Cabral (0-1).
Rodriguez (4-7) climbed the hill in the sixth, struck out the final man he faced in Greg Bird to begin the inning, his seventh strikeout of the day. Dayan Diaz came out of the pen and finished the side in perfect fashion.
The Sea Dogs tacked on two insurance runs in the seventh. Ryan Dent was hit by a pitch and moved to third on an errant pick-off throw by the pitcher. Mike Miller continued his stellar debut with an RBI single through the drawn in infield and Portland led 3-1.
Blake Swihart crushed a double to the wall in center, scoring Miller and giving the ‘Dogs the 4-1 lead.
Noe Ramirez took over for Diaz and tossed two scoreless innings on the mound, locking down the win and 13th save of his season.
Rodriguez took home the win and tossed 5.1 innings with two hits, one walk, and seven strikeouts.
The Dogs have today off and get back to action with the opener of a three-game series against the Bowie Baysox at 6:35 p.m. from Prince Georges Stadium in Bowie, MD.
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