PORTLAND, Maine — Rainel Rosario hit a grand slam over the Maine Monster with two outs in the fourth inning and the Portland Sea Dogs held on to defeat the Erie SeaWolves 5-4 and clinch a series victory in Eastern League baseball action Wednesday night at Hadlock Field.
With the Sea Dogs trailing 3-1 in the fourth, Ryan Court walked and Cody Decker and Cole Sturgeon each singled to load the bases. After David Martinez (L, 1-2) struck out Jake Romanski for the second out, Rosario hit a towering fly that snuck over the Monster in left field to put the Sea Dogs ahead for good 5-3.
The grand slam was the first of the year for Portland and its first since Tim Roberson hit one on May 15, 2015.
Sea Dogs starter Jalen Beeks (W, 3-2) pitched six solid innings and allowed four runs on eight hits while walking none and striking out six.
The Sea Dogs got off to a quick start in the bottom of the first. After a leadoff single by Aneury Tavarez and a double by Mauricio Dubon, Nate Freiman hit a sacrifice fly with one out.
Erie tied it in the third inning. After a leadoff double by Corey Jones, he advanced to third base on a groundout and scored on a sacrifice fly by Dominic Ficociello.
Erie took the lead in the third on a two-out, two-run bloop single by Anthony Gose for a 3-1 advantage.
Gustavo Nunez’s sacrifice fly in the fifth inning made it a one-run game after Rosario’s grand slam.
Williams Jerez pitched two scoreless innings of relief for the Sea Dogs, while Ben Taylor (S, 2) closed out the game with a perfect ninth.