HARRISBURG, Pa. —The Portland Sea Dogs got even in a four-game series with the Harrisburg Senators, winning 5-4 on Tuesday night at FNB Field in an Eastern League baseball game in front of 2,787 fans.
Portland snapped a three-game losing streak and ended Harrisburg’s seven-game win streak.
Keith Couch (3-0) worked six innings on six hits and four runs to earn the win for Portland. Chandler Shepherd hurled two scoreless innings with four strikeouts to earn the hold and Mitch Atkins pitched the ninth for his second save of the year.
Portland went to work right away, scoring two runs off losing pitcher Reynaldo Lopez (1-4) in the first inning. Henry Ramos and Sean Coyle set the table with singles. Andrew Benintendi knocked in the first run with a sacrifice fly. Later in the frame, Aneury Tavarez delivered a sacrifice fly to left.
In the third, Coyle led off the inning with a solo homer, his second home run in many games, giving the Sea Dogs a 3-0 lead.
Shawn Pleffner drove home two runs in the fourth with a single and knocked Couch out of the game with a two-run homer in the seventh. Couch sealed his fourth quality start and improved to 22-5 (.815) lifetime with Portland for the second best winning percentage in franchise history.
Portland added two runs in the sixth on a sacrifice fly by Rainel Rosario and a fielder’s choice RBI by Ali Solis.
Harrisburg’s top four hitters are a combined 2-for-33 in the series. Portland is now 2-9 in one-run games on the road.