Murphy powers Portland Sea Dogs rally past Fisher Cats

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PORTLAND – An eighth- inning outburst featuring eight straight hits and 11 runs gave the Portland Sea Dogs a come-from-behind 12-5 victory over New Hampshire on a rainy Sunday afternoon at Hadlock Field.

The Dogs sent 14 batters to the plate in the eighth, got 10 hits off four Fisher Cats pitchers and turned a 5-1 deficit into a comfortable lead in 46 pitches.

“I don’t know what I attribute that to. I don’t have an explanation,” said Portland manager Todd Claus, whose Sea Dogs improved to 21-18 and remain in second place in the Eastern League’s northern division. “I was particularly impressed that we didn’t try to do too much. Just quality at-bats in consecutive at-bats together is what we’ve been missing and we got them in that inning.”

Center fielder David Murphy led Portland’s assault, going 5-for-5 with a triple, three doubles, a single, and five eighth-inning RBIs.

“It was just one of those days where I felt really good at the plate,” said Murphy, who broke two franchise records and tied two others Sunday. “I felt like I was doing everything right up there and really didn’t have to think much and just reacted.”

Murphy’s four extra-base hits in one game is a Sea Dogs record as are his five RBIs in one inning. He tied Portland marks for most hits and most doubles in one game.

“I threw BP to his group today and I threw firmer than I usually do, but afterward he said he felt like he was locked in and might go 4-for-4 today, but I said ‘Well, don’t shortchange yourself,'” Claus said. “This guy is ready to move on. He’s our go-to guy right now and he’s a mainstay in that No. 3 hole because he’s our best hitter.”

The late offensive outbreak might have stalled had it not been for a determined at-bat by shortstop Keoni DeReene, who fouled off three 2-2 pitches before hitting a two-run single to shallow right-center with the bases loaded and score tied at 5-5.

“That was awesome. He fouled off a lot of pitches after their guy tried to get him to chase the fastball up a few times,” Murphy said while laughing at the memory. “That was a huge at-bat.”

Portland first baseman Jeremy West had three of Portland’s 16 hits with a double and two singles.

For the third time in the three-game series, the Fisher Cats scored first, thanks to a leadoff single by Manny Mayorson, a hit-and-run single to shallow right by Adam Lind, and a one-out sacrifice fly to the center field warning track that Murphy caught one-handed over his shoulder on a dead run.

The Sea Dogs tied things up in their half of the first. Chad Spann followed a two-out double off the right field wall by Murphy with an RBI single through the gap on the left side into shallow left in the first inning.

The Fisher Cats retook the lead in the sixth, just after the rains started to come down from darkened skies. Curtis Thigpen jumped all over an 0-2 pitch from Pauley and blasted it over the center field clock, some 400 feet for a leadoff homer.

Portland had a chance to tie in the sixth as Murphy whacked a double off the center field wall with one out, but relief pitcher Danny Hill got out of trouble with back-to-back strikeouts of Spann and Brandon Moss.

The Cats made the Dogs pay for two errors in the seventh with three unearned runs to take a 5-1 lead. Erik Kratz reached on a throwing error by third baseman Chad Spann and was bunted over to second. Carlo Cota walked and Mayorson followed with an RBI single. After stealing second, Mayorson went to third on an errant throw home by David Bacani as Cota scored on the throw to second to get Mayorson. Mayorson then scored on Chip Cannon’s two-out single up the middle.

The Dogs, who had lost six straight coming into Friday’s game, have now won two of their last three.

SEA DOGS 12, FISHER CATS 5

(Sunday Afternoon)

New Hampshire (15-25) Portland (21-18)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Mayorson, ss 5 2 2 1 Bacani, 2b 4 2 0

Lind, lf 4 0 2 0 Minges, lf 5 2 1

Thigpen, c 4 1 2 1 Murphy, cf 5 3 5

Cannon, 1b 4 0 1 2 Spann, 3b 5 1 2

Smith, cf 4 0 0 0 Moss, rf 4 1 1

Jova, rf 4 0 0 0 West, 1b 4 1 0

Kratz, dh 4 1 1 0 Brown, dh 4 1 1

Hassey, 3b 3 0 1 0 DeRenne, ss 3 1 2

Cota, 2b 2 1 0 0 Concepcion, c 4 0 0

Totals 34 5 9 4 Totals 38 12 16 12

New Hampshire 100 001 300 – 5

Portland 100 000 0(11)x – 12

E-Bacani 2; LOB-New Hampshire 8; Portland 5; 2B-Thigpen; Murphy 3; 3B-Murphy; HR-Thigpen; DP-New Hampshire; S-Cota, Hassey; SF-Cannon; SB-Mayorson; De Renne

New Hampshire IP H R ER BB SO

Arnold 4 2/3 4 1 1 2 3

Hill 1 1/3 1 0 0 0 2

Wolfe 1 5 4 4 0 0

Bullard (L, 1-1) 0 2 2 2 0 0

Thorpe 1/3 4 5 5 0 0

De Jong 2/3 0 0 0 0 1

Portland IP H R ER BB SO

Pauley 6 6 2 2 0 5

Searles 1 2 3 0 2 2

Ramos (W, 2-1) 2 1 0 0 1 1

Wolfe pitched to four batters in the 8th, Bullard pitched to two batters in the 8th.

HBP-Bacani (by Thorpe); T-2:57; ATT-6,395