Owens stays scoreless, racks up nine Ks in the win
TRENTON, NJ - The Portland Sea Dogs (3-3) staked their ace an early lead and never looked back thumping the Trenton Thunder (3-3) 9-2, Wednesday night at Arm & Hammer Park in Trenton, NJ. The win snaps a three-game losing streak and pulls the Portland back to .500 on the season.The Sea Dogs found themselves with an early lead for the first time in three games. Travis Shaw walked with two down to begin the rally. Stefan Welch singled him to second and Henry Ramos loaded the bases with a walk. As Blake Swihart hit, Trenton starter Bryan Mitchell tossed a wild pitch and Shaw scored the first run of the game.
After a quiet second the Dogs manufactured another run and doubled the lead to 2-0. Mookie Betts led off the frame with a walk and stole second. Deven Marrero grounded out to first, which pushed Betts to third. Shaw followed and drove him home with a ground out to second.
Henry Owens took the hill for Portland and in his second start he was nearly as dominant as he was on Opening Night in Reading. The tall lefty was staked the 1-0 lead after the first
Mitchell (0-1) couldn't bounce back from the early troubles and was lifted in the fifth after the Dogs tacked
on another pair. Four straight singles began the fifth inning for Portland and it was the base hits off of Marrero and Shaw's bats that drove in the third and fourth runs.
He finished four-plus and gave up the four runs, all earned, on six hits; he walked four and struck out four.
The bullpen didn't fair much better against the Sea Dogs lineup, which had its biggest output of the season. Portland loaded the bases three separate occasions and plated five runs to increase the lead to 9-0. Sean Coyle and Wilkerson connected on two-run hits for the big blows.
Owens (2-0) took the lead and put it in cruise control. The 6'6 southpaw pitched into the seventh and was lifted with a runner on and two down in the frame. Matty Ott took over and struck out the final hitter of the inning.
The Red Sox top-pitching prospect finished his second outing after six and two-third shut out innings. He allowed six hits, did not walk a batter and struck out nine. In two starts Owens has not yielded a run across 12 and two-third innings; he has walked just two and struck out 18.
Trenton showed some life late and plated a pair of runs in the 8th off of Ott. With two on and two out it was highly touted prospect Gary Sanchez that doubled to the track and put Trenton on the board.
The Sea Dogs hit 95 North, head to Hadlock, and get set to open up the home season against the New Britain Rock Cats Thursday night at 6:00 PM. The Sea Dogs will send righty Keith Couch (1-0, 0.00) to the mound against New Britain's RHP D.J. Baxendale (0-0, 3.86). Radio coverage begins at 5:40 PM on the U.S. Cellular Sea Dogs Radio Network and www.seadogs.com. Coverage on MiLB.TV kicks-off at 5:50PM. Tickets for Opening Day and all 2014 Sea Dogs home games are available and can be ordered by calling the Sea Dogs ticket office at 207-879-9500 or order online at www.seadogs.com.