TRENTON, New Jersey — Aaron Judge belted a home run with two outs in the 10th inning Thursday night, lifting the Trenton Thunder to a 3-2 Eastern League baseball victory over the Portland Sea Dogs.
The Trenton Thunder (4-3) celebrated opening night at Arm & Hammer Park to snap a three-game losing streak and hand the Sea Dogs (3-4) their first loss in three games.
Cesar Vargas (1-0) pitched a perfect 10th to earn his first Double-A win. Madison Younginer (0-1) suffered the loss.
The night featured a game-tying, inside-the-park homer in the seventh inning by Portland’s Keury De La Cruz to make it 1-1. De La Cruz hit a line drive down the left-field line off Mason Williams’ glove into foul territory and raced all the way around the bases, becoming the seventh player in Sea Dogs history to hit an inside-the-park homer.
Portland took a 2-1 lead in the eighth inning on a run-scoring single from Carlos Asuaje. However, Asuaje’s hit would be Portland’s final baserunner.
Trenton tied the game in the bottom of the ninth inning on a two-out single from Williams off Younginer. The Thunder had taken a 1-0 lead with two outs in the fifth on a double from Cito Culver off Portland starter Luis Diaz.
Diaz worked into the sixth, giving up just one run on five hits and six strikeouts over 5⅓ innings. Trenton’s Miguel Sulbaran fired 5⅔ scoreless frames, allowing two hits, one walk and one strikeout.
Simon Mercedes had his finest Double-A outing for the Sea Dogs, working 2⅔ scoreless with three strikeouts.
De La Cruz also singled and was the only repeat hitter for Portland, which did not commit an errors.
For Trenton, Judge added a single to his homer and Mason Williams posted a pair of singles.
The Sea Dogs and Thunder play game two of their series on Friday night at Arm & Hammer Park. Right-hander Mike Augliera (0-1, 4.91), a former Binghamton University standout, takes on Trenton righty Taylor Garrison.