PORTLAND, Maine — The Hartford Yard Goats beat the Portland Sea Dogs 5-2 in 17 innings on Friday night at Hadlock Field in Eastern League baseball action.
The game tied the longest game in Sea Dogs franchise history, an 8-7 Portland win over the Connecticut Defenders on April 16, 2008.
The game began as a pitchers duel. Sea Dogs’ starter Teddy Stankiewicz allowed just one earned run on three hits while walking none and striking out five in his Hadlock Field debut. He was outdone by German Marquez, who went seven shutout innings, scattering four hits and striking out three.
The Yard Goats struck first in the top of the sixth off Stankiewicz. After a leadoff double by Jackson Williams, Ashley Graeter singled him to third, then Raimel Tapia hit a sacrifice fly for his first career Double-A RBI.
The Sea Dogs tied it in the bottom of the eighth off of Rayan Gonzalez. Tzu-Wei Lin battled to a full count and on the sixth pitch of the at-bat sent a single the opposite way to score Wendell Rijo from third base and tied the game 1-1.
Hartford plated its second run in the 13th inning on a sacrifice fly by Pat Valaika, scoring Jackson Williams. But the Sea Dogs tied it back up in the bottom half of the 13th. After a leadoff single by Lin, Matt Carasiti threw the ball past first baseman Ashley Graeter on a pickoff attempt and Lin advanced to third base. He scored on a sacrifice fly by Aneury Tavarez to it at 2-2.
Hartford loaded the bases in the top of the 17th and Jackson Williams hit a three-run double off of Simon Mercedes (L, 0-1) to plate the winning runs for the Yard Goats. Williams finished the game 4-for-7 with two doubles, three RBIs, and caught all 17 innings.
The Yard Goats’ bullpen combined to pitch 10 innings and allow just one run on five hits. Matt Pierpont (1-0) earned the win with four innings of hitless relief.
Mike McCarthy, Chandler Shepherd, and Heri Quevedo combined to pitch 10 innings of relief for the Sea Dogs while also allowing just one run on six hits.