PORTLAND, Maine — The Harrisburg Senators jumped out to a big lead and staved off a Portland rally to hold on for a 9-6 Eastern League baseball win on Wednesday night at Hadlock Field.
Harrisburg (38-32) got on the board first against Sea Dogs’ starter Keith Couch. Wilmer Difo put the Senators on the board with a bases-loaded, RBI fielder’s choice, then Isaac Ballou followed with a two-run double.
Harrisburg loaded the bases again in the fourth and Ballou delivered for the second straight inning with a two-out grand slam off of Couch to extend the lead to 7-0. Couch (4-3) allowed seven runs on eight hits and two walks in 3⅔ innings.
The Sea Dogs began to rally back in the fourth inning off of Lucas Giolito. With two on and two out, Nate Freiman hit an RBI single to score Yoan Moncada, then Aneury Tavarez singled in Sean Coyle to cut the deficit to 7-2.
Portland scored three more times in the fifth on RBI singles by Moncada and Freiman and an RBI fielder’s choice by Cody Decker to make it 7-5.
Giolito allowed five runs on seven hits in 4⅔ innings while walking four and striking out three. John Simms (4-3) pitched 2⅓ innings of relief and allowed one run on one hit, Nick Lee threw a perfect eighth, and Abel De Los Santos closed out the game to earn his second save.
Portland cut the deficit to one run in the sixth inning on an RBI single by Moncada to score Tzu-Wei Lin. Moncada finished the game 3-for-5 with a double, two RBIs and two runs scored.
Harrisburg was able to pad its lead with two unearned runs in the eighth off of Luis Ysla to make it 9-6.