PORTLAND
Daniel McGrath washed away the sour taste of his last outing with a sparkling six-inning effort Thursday afternoon to lead the Portland Sea Dogs to a 3-2 victory over Trenton to complete a three-game sweep of the series between the Double-A affiliates of the Red Sox and Yankees.
A matinee crowd announced as 5,496 at Hadlock Field saw the cellar-dwelling Sea Dogs extend their winning streak to four, matching a season high.
Six days earlier in Akron, McGrath walked four batters in a row and all scored. The left-hander from Australia did not make it out of the third inning.
Thursday marked the longest of McGrath’s 30 appearances this season and was his eighth start. He held the Thunder — currently in second place in the Eastern division of the Eastern League — to three hits, striking out four and walking two.
A streak of 15 consecutive scoreless innings from Portland starting pitchers ended in the second when Trenton’s Jorge Saez doubled to drive in Gosuke Katoh, tying the game at 1-1.
McGrath retired the next nine. Thanks to a pair of double plays, he faced the minimum three batters in four of his six innings. Eleven of his 18 outs came through the air. Factoring in four whiffs leaves only three groundouts.
Chad De La Guerra snapped the 1-1 tie when he led off the sixth with a blast into the fourth row of the blue pavilion seats in right field to give the Sea Dogs the lead for good. With the count 3-0, De La Guerra looked to Manager Darren Fenster, and Fenster signaled to swing.
The home run was De La Guerra’s 12th of the season. Michael Chavis reached on a throwing error and eventually scored on a bases-loaded walk by reliever James Reeves to make it 3-1.
Trenton got a run back when Jhalan Jackson homered over the Maine Monster to open the eighth against reliever Harrison Cooney with a blast estimated at 420 feet. The home run was Jackson’s 15th of the season.
That was the only hit allowed by Cooney in two innings. Adam Lau came on for a perfect six-pitch ninth to convert his second save.
The homestand continues tonight with the opener of a three-game series with Altoona.
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