With the Portland Sea Dogs trailing 5-4 and down to their final out Sunday afternoon, Mike Olt stepped into the batter’s box with runners on second and third. He looked out to the mound, where 6-foot-7, 270-pound reliever Cale Coshow stood.

Coshow came in to stifle the Sea Dogs’ rally. He had already lit up the Hadlock Field radar gun with his 99 mph fastball.

“He definitely brings it,” Olt said. “I just wanted to be ready for his fastball and attack something early.”

Olt send a line drive to right-center, scoring both runners for a 6-5 win.

Olt’s hit capped a four-run ninth inning.

“This is a big one,” Olt said. “We’re never out of a game with this team.”

Portland (9-5) moved a game ahead of Trenton (9-7) for first place in the Eastern League’s East Division.

Earlier, Olt and Tzu-Wei Lin hit solo home runs in the sixth inning. Each player had three hits.

In the ninth inning, with Portland down 5-2, Lin reached on an infield single. Joseph Monge, an outfielder who has had a slow start in Double-A (.152 average), hit his first home run of the season, off the left-field foul pole, with one out against reliever Travis Hissong.

Aneury Tavarez followed with a hard grounder off the glove of diving third baseman Miguel Andujar. With the ball rolling slowly into left field, Tavarez did not stop, sliding in for a double.

“I never run slow,” Tavarez said. “I’m always thinking one more base.”

Coshaw (0-1) came in, and Heiker Meneses hit a bloop single, but Tavarez was held at third.

Coshaw then struck out Cole Sturgeon, but Meneses stole second.

Olt came up and took care of the rest.

Portland’s late relievers came through. Austin Maddox threw two hitless innings (two strikeouts, one walk). Jamie Callahan (3-1) pitched a perfect ninth (one strikeout).

“The main thing is that I’m just going out and competing when my name is called,” said Callahan, who has a 1.23 ERA.

Trenton took a 5-0 lead off Sea Dogs starter Trey Ball, who lasted 41/3 innings. He gave up five hits, including Dante Bichette Jr.’s two-run homer, and four walks.

“He was up and down, one of those days,” Portland Manager Carlos Febles said. “I thought he had good stuff. He just couldn’t execute it today.”

Ball used a 91 mph fastball, along with a change-up, curve and slider. He cruised through 1-2-3 innings in the first and third, but struggled in the other innings.

Meanwhile, Trenton starter Justus Sheffield, 20, was cruising. One of the Yankees’ top prospects – obtained in the Andrew Miller deal last summer – Sheffield (1.56 ERA) had a shutout until the two home runs in the sixth.

“He was impressive. He’s young, and he commands the zone really well,” Olt said. “We were able to work some long at-bats that got him off his rhythm.”

Still, Portland looked cooked until the ninth.

“(It felt) like we couldn’t get anything going,” Febles said. “But in the ninth inning, we put together some good at-bats and came through.”

NOTES: The announced paid attendance was 5,202. … The Sea Dogs play at Hadlock again at 6 p.m. Monday, with the Hartford Yard Goats coming to town. … Tavarez went 2 for 3 with two walks. He’s batting .400. … Rafael Devers is batting .320, despite an 0-for-4 day.

Kevin Thomas can be reached at 791-6411 or:

kthomas@pressherald.com

Twitter: ClearTheBases

Related Stories