Adam Shabala’s grand slam helps Norwich to a 7-5 victory over Portland.
By Bill Foley
Assistant Sports Editor

PORTLAND – One pitch.

Charlie Zink threw a knuckleball that didn’t knuckle and as a result the Portland Sea Dogs find themselves on the outside looking in in the Northern Division playoff race.

Adam Shabala belted the offering for a grand slam to cap off a five-run second inning and the Norwich Navigators held off the Sea Dogs 7-5 before a sold-out matinee crowd of 6,975 at Hadlock Field Thursday.

Combined with New Britain’s 9-8 victory over first-place New Haven, the loss dropped the Sea Dogs into third place, a half-game back of the red-hot Rock Cats.

“It just moved right into his wheelhouse,” Zink said of the pitch to Shabala. “It started out right down the middle and moved a little in. Lefties like it down and in and that’s right where it ended up.”

After falling behind 7-1, the Sea Dogs battled back with a pair of runs in both the seventh and eighth innings.

They had the tying run at the plate in the eighth and ninth, but came up empty while dropping the rubber game of the three-game set to the last-place Navigators.

“We didn’t swing the bats again,” said Portland manager Ron Johnson. “I thought we were going to be able to do a little bit more. I don’t know if it’s the pressure of the situation or what. It’s no mystery. We have to find a way to turn up the offense.”

Staked to a five-run lead, Norwich starter Chris Begg (1-0) cruised through the first five innings before surrendering a home run to Justin Headley leading off the bottom of the sixth.

Zink ran into trouble after retiring the first two men he faced in the top of the seventh, allowing back-to-back singles to Jamie Athas and Alejandro Freire before walking Michael Cervenak to load the bases.

Juan Perez replaced Zink and threw eight of his first nine pitches for balls while forcing in a pair of runs.

“That’s a tough situation to come in to,” said Johnson. “He couldn’t find the strikes zone and it turned out to be huge.”

Two walks and an error loaded the bases for the Sea Dogs in the bottom of the inning and spelled the end for Begg.

Reliever Albert Montes promptly plunked Carlos Leon to force in a run.

Headley followed with a sacrifice fly to make it 7-3.

In the eighth, Jim Goelz’s two-run double down the left field line closed the deficit to two.

But Mitch Walk struck out pinch-hitter Justin Sherrod and got out of the ninth despite hitting a batter with one out to record his fifth save.

“We got started too late,” said Sea Dogs center fielder Jeremy Owens. “We usually wait to later in the game to get things rolling. We just ran out of outs.”

Former Sea Dog John Pachot’s RBI single put Norwich up 1-0 in the second.

A walk loaded the bases for Shabala, who had never faced a knuckleballer before.

“His ball was more like a slow curveball as opposed to the normal knuckleball that wiggles back and forth and dives down in the zone,” said Shabala. “It pretty much stayed in the zone out over the plate.”

Zink (2-2), who came into the game having allowed just seven hits over 19 innings in his three Double-A starts, said that other than the one mistake, everything was working great.

“Everything felt better than it’s ever felt,” said Zink. “But I’m pretty angry about that one pitch.”

Sea Dogs notes: Headley finished the series with seven RBI in three games….Shabala now has nine home runs, five of which have come against the Sea Dogs….Tony Schrager singled in the sixth and has now reached base in 24 straight home games….Josh Stevens (10-8, 3.51 ERA) opposes Erie’s Adam Pettyjohn (1-3, 4.50) as the Sea Dogs and Seawolves open a three-game series tonight at 7 p.m. About 800 tickets remain for the game, which can also be seen on Channel 8 (WMTW).

bfoley

Copy the Story Link