Sea Dogs edge Mets to win home opener Brisson, Youkilis bats heat up

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PORTLAND – Eleven days, seven postponements, and four road games later, the Portland Sea Dogs made Monday night’s Hadlock Field home opener worth the wait.

Portland’s bats were as cold as the 49 degree game-time temperature for the first four innings, but Dustin Brisson and Kevin Youkilis thawed the offense out as the Dogs rallied for a 9-7 come-from-behind victory, thrilling the 1,000 or so hardy fans (out of a sellout crowd of 6,975) who braved the steady wind and night chill right to the final out.

Brisson belted a two-run, game-tying home run in the sixth and a game-winning RBI double in the eighth while Youkilis went 3-for-4 and scored twice to lead the Dogs, now 3-2 on the season.

James Johnson earned his first save of the season after coming into the game with runners at first and second and one out in the top of the ninth. The 26-year-old lefty faced a 3-1 count in favor of pinch-hitter Kirk Asche before eventually retiring him with a called third strike. He then struck out leadoff man Jeff Duncan, who had gone 3-for-4, on four pitches to end the game.

“They had some big hits and that’s how they won the game,” said Mets manager John Stearns. “It looked like our game all the way, but the beauty of this game is you never know what’s going to happen.”

The Mets roughed up Portland starter Junior Herndon for six runs and 11 hits in five innings, but the Sea Dogs came back with a five-run rally in the sixth to make it a new ballgame.

“I think, [in] the sixth, we just started putting it together by swinging the bats and putting the ball in play,” said Youkilis. “Good things happened.”

Raul Nieves started things off in Portland’s big inning with a leadoff single. Youkilis followed with a single and sent Mets starter Joey Cole to the showers. Cole notched the first out of the inning with a flyout, but then yielded an RBI single to right fielder Justin Sherrod.

After Andy Dominique walked, Tonayne Brown scored Youkilis with a fielder’s choice grounder. Sherrod went to third and then scored on an errant pickoff throw by reliever Eric Cammack. With Brown at second, Brisson came to the plate.

Brisson jumped all over a low, 3-1 fastball and sent it over the right field fence 330 feet away to tie the game.

With two outs in the eighth, Brown belted a double to the gap in right-center before Brisson scored him with a double off the new, 37-foot green wall in left field – the first hit off Portland’s version of Fenway Park’s “Green Monster” since it was erected in the offseason. The Sea Dogs are the new Class AA affiliate of the Red Sox.

“That guy [P.J. Bevis] had really good stuff. I tip my cap to him, but I was just seeing the ball really well and laid off a couple of pitches a lot of people would swing at and got a pitch I could drive,” said Brisson, who belted his first homer on Sunday.

Jeremy Owens followed Brisson by belting an 0-1 pitch for an RBI double and the Dogs had a two-run cushion.

Righthander Felix Villegas notched the win for Portland with 1 1/3 innings of scoreless, two-hit ball.

“We had some heroes tonight at the plate, but the key to the whole game was stopping them from scoring and Felix helped us do that and give our offense a chance,” said Dogs manager Ron Johnson.

Catcher Mike Jacobs and second baseman Daniel Garcia paced Binghamton (3-5) with three hits and one RBI apiece.

SEA DOGS 9, METS 7

(Monday Night)

Binghamton (3-5) Portland (3-2)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Duncan, cf 6 2 3 1 Castro, ss 4 1 0

Garcia, 2b 5 1 3 1 Leon, 2b 0 0 0

Brazell, 1b 4 1 1 1 Nieves, 2b 3 1 0

Acuna, rf 4 0 1 1 Youkillis, 3b 4 2 0

Deschenes, dh 5 1 0 0 Headley, 1b 3 1

Nye, 3b 4 1 1 2 Sherrod, rf 4 1 2

a-Bacani 0 0 0 0 Dominique, c 3 0 0

Jacobs, c 5 1 3 0 Brown, lf 4 2 1

b-Wilson 0 0 0 0 Brisson, dh 4 2 3

Basak, ss 3 0 2 1 Owens, cf 4 0 1

Seale, lf 2 0 0 0

c-Asche 1 0 0 0

Totals 39 7 14 7 Totals 33 9 10 8

a-ran for Nye in 9th; b?ran for Jacobs in 9th; c-struck out for Seale in 9th

Binghamton 210 121 000 ? 7

Portland 100 105 02x ? 9

E?Cammack, Castro, Owens; LOB?Binghamton 12, Portland 4; 2B?Garcia 2, Nye, Jacobs, Basak, Headley, Brown, Brisson, Owens; HR?Brisson (2); S?Basak; SF?Brazell, Headley; SB?Castro 2, Duncan, Acuna, Leon

Binghamton IP H R ER BB SO

Cole 5 4 4 4 2 2

Cammack 2 3 3 3 1 1

Bevis (L, 0-1) 1 3 2 2 0 2

Portland IP H R ER BB SO

Herndon 5 11 6 5 1 2

Adams 2 1 1 1 3 0

Villegas (W, 1-0) 1 1/3 2 0 0 1 1

Johnson (S, 1) 2/3 0 0 0 0 2

T? 2:49; ATT? 6,975