On a night when the Portland Sea Dogs wore their throwback teal jerseys, an old-fashioned bench-clearing brawl broke out.
After the situation settled down and everyone was back in the dugout, the Sea Dogs channeled their residual anger into hitting Binghamton pitching. The Sea Dogs pounded out 15 hits, including their first home runs since opening night, to take a 12-5 win over the Rumble Ponies in front of 3,100 fans at Hadlock Field.
The donnybrook came in the bottom of the third inning, with the Sea Dogs (6-6) trailing 3-1. With the bases loaded, Portland designated hitter Tyreque Reed was hit by a Marcel Renteria pitch. As Reed jogged to first base, Renteria stepped off the mound and said something to him, prompting Reed to charge him and throw a punch. Both benches cleared.
Within minutes, video of the brawl was all over social media. Renteria was injured in the fight and left the game, with Justin Lasko coming on to pitch for the Rumble Ponies (4-7). Reed was ejected, as was David Hamilton, who sprinted into the fray after he trotted home to score. For Binghamton, backup catcher Francisco Alvarez was ejected. Rumble Ponies third baseman Brett Baty was thrown out in the top of the third inning for arguing a called third strike.
I don’t know what the pitcher said to Boston Red Sox prospect Tyreque Reed. But bet money he never says it again … pic.twitter.com/ZVR7G4LANH
— Hunter Noll (@Hunter_Noll) April 21, 2022
Portland Manager Chad Epperson, who was coaching third base when the fight broke out, said he did not know what Renteria said to Reed to set off the fight.
“It’s just one of those things. Obviously, something was going on there to set something off, but as far as what, I have no idea,” Epperson said.
Prior to his ejection, Hamilton broke out of his two game, 0-for-8 slump in the first inning. He ripped a double to right-center, took third on a wild pitch and scored on a bloop single to right by Christian Koss.
Hamilton walked to lead off the bottom of the third.
Hudson Potts led off the bottom of the fourth with a home run to center, Portland’s first long ball since Hamilton hit a pair of homers in the first game of the season. Potts then hit a two-run double in the fifth to give the Sea Dogs a 5-3 lead.
Jeremy Vasquez answered with a two-run homer for the Rumble Ponies in the top of the sixth, but Portland regained the lead in the bottom of the inning with two runs. Koss scored on Tyler Dearden’s RBI single, and Devlin Granberg scored on a double by Elih Marrero, who replaced Reed as designated hitter.
In the seventh, Koss hit a three-run homer – his first home run of the season, to make it 10-5. Potts added a two-run drive over the left-field wall in the bottom of the eighth, giving him four hits and five RBI.
“They stayed on some balls tonight, which was good to see. We were able to get some big hits with runners in scoring position,” Epperson said.
Victor Santos (2-1) started on the mound for Portland and went six innings, giving up six hits, a walk and five runs while striking out six.
“He’s been outstanding for us. He loves to pitch. He attacks the strike zone. He gets after it,” Epperson said.
Cameron Cannon replaced Hamilton at the top of the Sea Dogs lineup and scored a pair of runs. Portland catcher Kole Cottam had two hits.
Copy the Story Link
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.