PORTLAND – Billy McMillon’s 12th-inning double sparked the Portland Sea Dogs to a 4-3 win over the Binghamton Mets Thursday in the season’s first game at Hadlock Field in Eastern League play.
Batting with two outs and Ralph Milliard on first, McMillon lined a double into the right field corner. Tracy Sanders, the Mets’ rightfielder, threw wildly to the cutoff man and allowed Milliard to score.
The game drew 6,482, but only a few hundred remained to witness the final play in a game that lasted more than four hours and was delayed by opening festivities and halted twice by lighting failures.
The Ralph Bellamy Jazz Band, of North Yarmouth, played as fans filed into the stadium. The Westbrook High School Marching Band made music in the outfield and Peter Tork, of the Monkees, sang the national anthem, accompanying himself on a red electric guitar.
A parachutist delivered the game ball to Slugger, the Sea Dogs’ mascot, who dressed in a tuxedo for the occasion. The ceremonial first pitch was delivered by Joshua Cloutier, a youth associated with the Maine Children’s Cancer Program.
Once play began, the game was a pitchers’ duel for seven innings as the Mets’ Jeff Cosman held the Sea Dogs at bay with a pair of hits and the Sea Dogs’ Andy Larkin limited the Mets to five scattered hits.
The Mets (0-1) scored three runs in the eighth inning.
The Sea Dogs (1-0) answered with a single run in the eighth when Edgar Renteria doubled to center, advanced on a balk then scored on a sacrifice fly by Robbie Katzaroff.
Portland rallied for a pair in the ninth to stay in the game. Tim Clark doubled to left, then scored when Mets’ shortstop Kevin Morgan fielded a ground ball by Lou Lucca, then threw it wildly to first. Chris Clapinski, running for Lucca, advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt and scored.
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