Junior Herndon fires

seven shutout innings to help Portland end its nine-game losing skid.
By Randy Whitehouse
Staff Writer

PORTLAND – It turns out that all the Portland Sea Dogs had to do to get a win was give away the shirts off their backs.

Portland snapped its nine-game losing streak Friday on “Shirt Off the Back Night” at Hadlock Field with a 7-0 win over the Binghamton Mets.

With the win, Portland avoided tying the franchise record of 10 consecutive losses set in April 1994, the team’s inaugural season, and avoided dropping out of the Eastern League Northern Division wild card lead. Trenton, which trailed Portland by a half-game going into Friday, won the first game of its doubleheader with Norwich, 2-1. The Sea Dogs now trail first place New Haven, which lost to New Britain, by six games.

The Sea Dogs (60-57) enjoyed seven innings of shutout pitching from starter Junior Herndon (7-6), while the offense collected 11 hits, all of them singles. Raul Nieves followed his three-hit night Thursday by going 3-for-5 with two RBIs, while Kevin Haverbusch also drove in a pair. Greg Catalanotte reached base all four times up (two hits, two walks) and scored three runs.

“This game was Junior Herndon’s tonight,” said Portland manager Ron Johnson. “The offense had a good night and swung the bats well. We had the balls bounce for us a little bit tonight, which was nice.”

“Momentum was all we needed,” said Herndon. “A win tonight, there’s nothing better for this team.”

Binghamton (56-64) aided Portland with two errors in the second inning, both on sacrifice bunt attempts.

With runners at first and second and none out, Catalanotte laid one down along the third base side, which Binghamton starting pitcher David Mattox fielded and threw over the first baseman’s head, scoring Justin Sherrod from second.

Jeremy Owens followed with an RBI single to center to put runners again at first and second. Carlos Leon then put down a bunt of his own, which catcher Mike Jacobs got a grip on, loading the bases. Nieves then drove in the third Portland run with a single to center that scored Catalanotte.

The three-run second turned out to be plenty for Portland’s mound tandem of Herndon and Andy Shibilo. Herndon ( four hits, six Ks, two walks) surrendered a double to Chris Basak to start the game, but quickly caught the Binghamton shortstop breaking for third. The Mets would only get one more runner as far as second base the rest of the night.

“That was huge right there,” Herndon said. “The last time we played against these guys, they ran on us a lot. (Basak) was trying to time me there at second and I just took one more extra look. After that, I felt like I was in a groove. I threw my heater tonight.”

Shibilo followed Herndon with two innings of hitless relief.

Nieves drove in Catalanotte for the second time with an single to right-center in the fourth that made it 4-0. The Sea Dogs broke the game open with three more in the sixth on an RBI single by Leon and a two-run single by Haverbusch.

Herndon, meanwhile, was economical (88 pitches) with his pitches and Binghamton baserunners. The Mets got two baserunners on in just one inning, the fourth, when Craig Brazell and Rodney Nye slapped back-to-back two-out singles. Herndon nixed the rally, though, by striking out Jacobs swinging.

“I can’t say enough about the outing (Herndon) gave us,” Johnson said. “That’s the kind of outing you need when you’ve got a streak like that. You’ve got to have somebody go out and absolutely control the opposition, and that’s what he did tonight.”

“That (win) was a long time coming. It felt good,” said Tony Schrager, who scored Portland’s second run. “It’s tough when our guys have been going out and throwing good games every game and we’re not able to do anything for them. Today we kind of broke out a bit and hopefully it gets the ball rolling for us the other way.”

Sea Dogs notes: Right-handed pitcher Eric Glaser was promoted to Pawtucket for the third time this season. Glaser was 3-2 in 21 games with the Sea Dogs, six of them starts. Left-hander Juan Perez replaced him on the active roster, his second stint with the Portland club. He spent six weeks with the Sea Dogs from late May to early July, appearing in 10 games with a 2-3 record and a 5.40 ERA…The two roster moves made Friday increased the Sea Dogs total to 127 roster moves over the course of the season. Portland has had 50 different players suit up…Though eligible for activation, Justin Headley will remain on the disabled list until Sunday, when Eastern League teams are allowed to increase their rosters from 23 to 24 players…With its 9-6 win in 11 innings over the Sea Dogs Thursday, Binghamton became the first Eastern League team to defeat the Sea Dogs 100 times. Portland is 81-100 all-time against Binghamton, 5-12 this season…Portland now has a league-leading 11 losses when leading entering the seventh inning. The Sea Dogs also have the fewest comeback wins in the league when trailing after five innings (4-34) or six (4-37).

rwhitehouse@sunjournal.com

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