Portland pitcher baffles Binghamton
PORTLAND – On a hot, muggy day where just sitting in the stands at Hadlock Field was enough for most people to work up a sweat, Portland Sea Dogs knuckleballer Charlie Zink looked as if he had just returned from a Sunday afternoon stroll.
Zink had just thrown seven solid innings to lead the Sea Dogs past the Binghamton Mets 5-3 before another sellout crowd, but a bead of perspiration wasn’t evident, which wasn’t surprising considering that only two of his 104 pitches reached 80 m.p.h.
Using an array of pitches that registered mostly between 58 and 63 on the radar gun, Zink baffled the Mets until he ran into trouble in the top of the seventh when the wind kicked up.
“It was so windy (the knuckleball) started to get hard to control,” said Zink. “With the wind in my face, it goes all over the place.”
Zink gave up two hits, a pair of walks and hit a batter as Binghamton scored twice to pull to within one at 4-3.
Sea Dogs manager Ron Johnson, meanwhile, watched and wondered when he should pull the 23-year-old right-hander.
“It’s a learning experience for me,” said Johnson. “You know he’s not really tired. You see him walking around here. He’s not exerted like the guys walking around with ice bags on.”
Johnson finally did pull Zink after he walked Frank Corr to force in a run with two outs.
He allowed four hits, walked three, struck out three and also hit three batters.
James Johnson came on and got Chris Basak to hit a pop up near the mound.
With nobody taking charge, Johnson made a snow cone grab to end the inning.
“Nobody called it right off the bat and then all of a sudden someone yelled ‘Jimmy,'” said Johnson. “The ball was on its way down and it caught me right in the palm.”
Johnson worked a scoreless eighth and Andy Shibilo closed it out for his first save since coming down from Triple-A Pawtucket July 26.
The win was the first at the double-A level for Zink (1-1), who was activated earlier in the day after being called up from Class-A Sarasota as the rosters expanded to 24.
Zink worked with Red Sox knuckleballer Tim Wakefield in spring training after being convinced by the Red Sox that learning to throw the pitch would help him stay in the game.
“It’s a lot of fun throwing it,” said Zink, who was 7-9 with a 3.90 ERA for Sarasota.
Sean McGowan had four of the Sea Dogs eight hits, including a home run into the net in left-center field in the bottom of the first.
The Mets tied it in the third on Basak’s two-out, bloop single.
In the sixth, the Sea Dogs struck for three runs against Binghamton reliever Joe Orloski (0-2).
McGowan led off with a double and scored when center fielder Ron Acuna misplayed Kelly Shoppach’s sinking line drive into a triple.
Two batters later, with men on first and third, Jeremy Owens dropped a bunt for a base hit to score Shoppach.
“That was beautiful,” said Johnson. “That’s a situation where you’ve got to take testosterone out of it. We don’t need a three-run homer there. We need that guy on third to score.”
After the Mets pulled to within one, Brian Loyd’s two-out single in the bottom of the seventh brought in an insurance run.
With the win, the Sea Dogs pulled two games ahead of New Britain and two-and-a-half in front of Trenton for the second and final playoff spot in the Eastern League’s Northern Division.
After having lost nine straight, Portland heads out on what could be a season defining nine-game road trip with a modest three-game win streak.
“This was big for us,” said Johnson.
Sea Dogs notes: Tony Schrager had a single and two walks and has now reached base in 21 consecutive home games. … Sea Dogs’ playoff tickets will go on sale Aug. 18. … The team left immediately after the game for Reading, Pa., where they’ll open a four-game series tonight against the Phillies. Josh Stevens (10-7, 3.48 ERA) will oppose Reading’s Seung Lee (11-5, 4.98) in the opener. After four games in Reading, the Sea Dogs will head to New Britain, where they’ll play five games in three days against the third-place Rock Cats.
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