In The Pros: Magee Finishes Season Strong

Portland, ME — Brandon Magee, making a franchise record-tying 28th start of the season, allowed two runs over seven strong innings to earn his seventh victory, and the New Hampshire Fisher Cats held off a late Portland Sea Dogs’ rally for a 5-4 victory on Sunday afternoon.

New Hampshire (60-81) took its first lead of the series in the top of the second inning when Erik Kratz (1-for-3, BB, HBP, SB, RBI, R) drove in Eric Nielsen (0-for-2, 3 BB, 2 R) with a run-scoring single to centerfield off Ryne Lawson for a 1-0 lead.

The Fisher Cats increased the lead to 2-0 in the top of the fourth inning when Lawson hit a batter and walked three men, including Jonathan Diaz (0-for-3, BB, RBI) with the bases loaded, to force in Nielsen.

Portland (74-65) got on the board in the bottom of the fourth inning when Jorge Jimenez (3-for-5, HR, 2B, 4 RBI, R) ripped Magee’s 1-0 offering into the right field seats for his third home run of the season, cutting the Sea Dogs’ deficit to 2-1.

The Sea Dogs tied the game, 2-2, in the bottom of the fifth when Argenis Diaz (2-for-5, 2B, R) singled, advanced to second on a Magee wild pitch and scored when Jimenez lined a two-out single to centerfield. The Fisher Cats reclaimed a two-run lead in the top of the sixth inning. Facing reliever T.J. Large, Kratz was hit by a pitch and stole second base. Ryan Patterson (2-for-4, RBI, R) plated Kratz with a single up the middle for a 3-2 lead. Large then issued consecutive walks to Scott Campbell (1-for-4, BB), Chris Gutierrez (0-for-2, 3 BB, R) and, with the bases loaded, Brian Dopirak (0-for-4, BB, RBI), forcing in Patterson for a 4-2 lead.

New Hampshire tacked on an important insurance run in the top of the seventh inning when Jimenez’s two-out throwing error on a Dopirak grounder allowed Gutierrez to score all the way from first, staking the Fisher Cats to a 5-2 lead. Jimenez atoned for the error by slamming a two-run double off Orlando Roman in the bottom of the ninth inning, with both runs charged to Daryl Harang. Harang set a franchise record by appearing in his Eastern League-leading 59th game, but it was Roman who slammed the door for his second save by inducing a game-ending ground out by Zach Daeges (0-for-5).

Magee (7-13) scattered six hits over seven innings, with four strikeouts and one walk.

The right-hander finished second in the Eastern League with 163.0 innings pitched in 2008, the second-highest, single-season total in club history.

Large (0-2) took the loss after allowing two runs on one hit in one inning. The righthander issued three of the 10 walks yielded by Sea Dogs’ pitchers.

Despite the loss, Portland clinched its fourth consecutive playoff appearance when the New Britain Rock Cats eliminated the Binghamton Mets, 9-6, on Sunday afternoon at New Britain Stadium. The Sea Dogs will open the best-of-five Northern Division Championship Series against the defending Eastern League Champion Trenton Thunder Wednesday night at Waterfront Park in Trenton, NJ.

*note – The above article is from the New Hampshire Fisher Cats website. To read the entire article, Click Here.