Portland, ME - The Portland Sea Dogs (13-18) fell 15-13 in an extra innings slugfest against the New Hampshire Fisher Cats (19-10) on Friday night before a sold-out crowd at Delta Dental Park at Hadlock Field.
Portland launched a season-high five home runs in the contest, including two from Brooks Brannon, and one apiece from Nate Baez, Nelly Taylor, and Marvin Alcantara, who tied the game with a three-run blast in the ninth inning. Brannon had never previously hit two home runs in the same game at any minor league level.
The Sea Dogs quickly fell behind 7-0 by the bottom of the second inning, before Brannon put them on the board with his first home run of the night.
That started a night of chipping away for the Sea Dogs, who eventually clawed their way into an 8-6 deficit behind homers from Baez and Taylor.
New Hampshire pushed their lead to 12-6 in the top of the seventh inning before the Sea Dogs began to mount a massive comeback.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, Nelly Taylor and Max Ferguson walked to put runners on base. Taylor came around to score on a Will Turner double before Brannon’s second home run of the night brought the Sea Dogs within two, 12-10. New Hampshire added one more run at the top of the ninth, extending the lead to 13-10.
The Sea Dogs rallied in the ninth inning. Baez walked to get on base, took second, and came around to third on a Johanfran Garcia single. Brannon drove a ball deep to the outfield to score a run on a sacrifice fly. On two outs, Marvin Alcantara crushed his second home run of the season to straightaway center, 412 feet off the bat, to tie the game at 13-13.
For the second night in a row, the Sea Dogs reached extra innings with no arms left in the bullpen. As such, Tyler McDonough, who had been the last out recorded in the bottom of the ninth inning, was sent to the mound to pitch cold. He gave up a home run to the Fisher Cats’ cleanup batter and home run leader Sean Keys, putting the Sea Dogs behind 15-13 for good.
Second baseman Tyler McDonough (0-1, 9.00 ERA) took the loss, giving up two runs, one earned run on two hits in the tenth inning. LHP Kai Peterson (1-0, 3.38 ERA) earned the win for the Fisher Cats, working 1.1 scoreless innings in the ninth and tenth.
The Sea Dogs and Fisher Cats are back in action on Saturday at 1:00 PM. RHP Anthony Eyanson, the Red Sox’ no. 8 prospect according to MLB.com, is scheduled to make his Double-A debut. Eyanson, promoted to Portland on Tuesday, earned South Atlantic League Pitcher of the Month honors in April for his work opening the season with the Red Sox' High-A affiliate, the Greenville Drive. Eyanson recorded a 0.54 ERA in four April starts, allowing one run on six hits over 16.2 innings, with 27 strikeouts and no walks. He’ll face RHP Jackson Wentworth (1-2, 4.76 ERA) starting for the Fisher Cats.