Portland pitcher Charlie Zink was just one out away from throwing
a no-hitter.
PORTLAND – Portland Sea Dogs pitcher Charlie Zink was afraid he wouldn’t even be able to throw a strike during the ninth inning of Saturday afternoon’s game against the New Haven Ravens.
“I was as nervous as I’ve ever been out there,” said Zink. “I was shaking.”
Coming within an out of throwing a no-hitter tends to do that to a young pitcher.
Matt Logan dropped a bloop double in between a pair of diving Sea Dogs in short left field to end Zink’s no-hit bid with two outs in the top of the ninth inning.
The 24-year-old knuckleballer surrendered a run-scoring single before giving way to Scott Aldred, who closed out the 2-1 victory over the Ravens.
About a half-hour after the game ended, Zink was still obliging autograph seekers at the gate near the Sea Dogs’ clubhouse.
“It’s a relief now that it’s over,” said Zink. “I was real nervous with everyone going crazy.”
The crowd of 6,891 gave Zink a standing ovation as he left the field after retiring the side in the top of the eighth.
In the ninth, they cheered or jeered on every pitch as Zink tried to become the first Sea Dogs’ pitcher to throw an individual no-hitter.
Danny Solano led off the inning by popping to second baseman Tony Schrager in shallow right field.
Alexis Rios, the Eastern League’s leading hitter, followed with a high chopper to shortstop.
Raul Nieves charged the ball, caught it on the short hop and fired an off-balance throw to first to get the speedy Rios.
“I thought we had it right there,” said Zink. “With the way our defense was playing, there was no way if they hit a ball that we weren’t going to get to it.”
With the crowd on its feet, the count went to 1-1 on the left-handed hitting Logan before he hit a flair that
Nieves and left fielder Kevin Haverbusch couldn’t get to.
“I got lucky,” said Logan. “He made a good pitch down and away. I drop one in and fortunately get a hit. But it was his ballgame today. The ball was moving all over the place and we couldn’t do anything with it.”
Zink, who had taken a no-hitter into the eighth inning at New Britain on Aug. 15, exited to another standing ovation after Shawn Fagan’s line drive single to right field.
He walked three and struck out two while throwing 120 pitches.
The win, combined with New Britain’s 8-4 loss in the first game of a doubleheader at Akron Saturday night, means the Sea Dogs are still alive in the chase for the final Northern Division playoff spot with two days left in the regular season.
The Rock Cats hold a 1 1/2 game edge pending the outcome of the second game of their doubleheader.
Prior to Logan’s at-bat, the Ravens had only a pair of chances for hits.
First baseman Justin Headley snared a hot smash off the bat of Logan in the second inning.
In the fifth, center fielder Jeremy Owens ran down a fly ball by Anthony Sanders in the gap in left-center that had double written all over it.
“I guess it was only fitting,” Portland manager Ron Johnson said of having Logan breaking up the no-hitter, “because (Logan) was the guy who hit the bullet to first that (Headley) caught. The game giveth and the game taketh away.”
Lost in the shuffle was an outstanding Double-A debut for New Haven’s Sandy Nin (0-1).
The 19-year-old right-hander allowed five hits while walking none and striking out nine over seven innings.
Owens led off the bottom of the first with his 20th home run of the season.
Haverbusch doubled home Sean McGowan, who had earlier doubled, an inning later to make it 2-0.
Kelly Shoppach, who was catching Zink for the first time, said he didn’t really think about the no-hitter until after the eighth inning.
“The knuckleball is such a shaky deal,” said Shoppach. “You throw one bad one and it’s floating in there at about 60 (mph).”
Zink said he knew something was up when his teammates started avoiding him between innings.
“I’m trying not to change anything and then everything’s changed because nobody will come by me,” said Zink. “I don’t stress out much. But when everything changes I was like, ‘Oh, this is pretty serious.'”
Sea Dogs notes: The only two no-hitters in Sea Dogs’ history have been combined efforts. Brady Penny (six innings) and Luis Arroyo (three) turned the trick on Aug. 8, 1999 at Hadlock Field against Trenton. Josh Beckett (seven innings), Aaron Scheffer (one) and Brandon Bowe (one) did it in Binghamton on Aug. 13, 2001….A young fan who had his face pressed up against the screen behind home plate was struck in the head when Shoppach lost the grip on his bat in the third inning. Shoppach brought the boy a bat prior to the next half-inning….Tim Kester (10-9, 3.83 ERA) opposes New Haven’s Chris Baker (9-6, 3.88) today at 1 p.m.
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