PORTLAND, Maine — Mitch Atkins allowed just one run and one hit over six-plus innings and the Portland Sea Dogs won the rubber match 7-1 over the Richmond Flying Squirrels in Eastern League baseball action Sunday in front of a sellout crowd at Hadlock Field.
Atkins (W, 2-2) was perfect through the first 5 1/3 innings of the game, retiring the first 16 batters he faced before walking Steve Lerud with one out in the sixth. Christian Arroyo led off the seventh with a double down the right field line to end Atkins’ no-hit bid. Atkins struck out seven.
Aneury Tavarez hit a solo homer to right field with two outs in the second inning to give Portland an early 1-0 lead. The Sea Dogs added two more runs in the fourth on an RBI triple by Rainel Rosario and an RBI double from Tavarez, who finished the game a triple shy of the cycle.
Richmond starter Andrew Suarez (L, 2-3) allowed four runs on eight hits in 6-plus innings with one walk and four strikeouts.
Portland scored four insurance runs in the seventh off of Preston Claiborne and Phil McCormick. Ryan Court hit a two-run single, Andrew Benintendi followed-up with an RBI single, and Cole Sturgeon was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to extend the lead to 7-1.
Luis Ysla worked two scoreless innings in relief and Chandler Shepherd closed out the game with a perfect ninth. Shepherd has retired 15 consecutive batters across five appearances in June.
On Saturday night, Adalberto Mejia worked seven scoreless innings and the Flying Squirrels shut down the Sea Dog 4-1.
Mejia (W, 3-2) allowed just three hits in the outing while walking two and striking out four. Mejia lowered his ERA on the season to 1.94, which ranks among the top three in the Eastern League.
Richmond struck for the game’s first run in the top of the fourth on an RBI groundout by Carlos Moncrief off of Justin Haley (L, 5-4) to score Ricky Oropesa.
Haley allowed one run on four hits in 4 ⅔ innings, walking one and striking out four.
The Flying Squirrels got some insurance in the eighth on a three-run homer by Hunter Cole off of Taylor Grover.
Portland scored an unearned run off of Tyler Mizenko in the eighth on an RBI single by Sean Coyle to score Wendell Rijo, who had reached on an infield single and advanced to second on a throwing error by third baseman Ryder Jones.