NEW BRITAIN, Connecticut — Portland’s Justin Haley earned his first win of the season with six strong innings and the Sea Dogs finished with three wins in a four-game series, beating the New Britain Rock Cats 4-2 on Sunday at New Britain Stadium.
Haley struck out a season-high eight batters over six innings pitched, yielding three hits and two runs. Madison Younginer worked two scoreless for the hold and Pat Light closed the door with a scoreless ninth. Light earned his first Double-A save, two days after his first Double-A win.
Portland has its first three-game winning streak of the season, and has won seven of its last 11 road games. New Britain has its first three-game losing streak of the season.
The Sea Dogs scored first, taking a 1-0 lead in the second inning. Keury De La Cruz led off with a double and scored on Tim Roberson’s single. Roberson finished 9-for-15 in the series. New Britain tied the game in the third inning on a two-out RBI single from Tyler Massey.
Portland’s Blake Tekotte snapped a 1-1 tie in the fifth inning, launching a two-run homer to right field. The homer was the first for Tekotte in the Red Sox system and the fourth of the trip for Portland. The Rock Cats cut the deficit to 3-2 in the fifth inning on a two-out RBI single from Dean Espy.
Portland got a huge run in the seventh inning off reliever Jason Gurka. Jonathan Roof led off with a double and scored on a two-out single from Carlos Asuaje. Asuaje extended his on-base streak to 26 straight games.