The Portland Sea Dogs kept the top of the batting order in place for a doubleheader Wednesday night, and both Aneury Tavarez and Mauricio Dubon delivered.
The two combined for seven hits as the Sea Dogs and the Altoona Curve split two games at Hadlock Field.
Portland won the first game 4-3. Altoona won the second 7-4 on Johnathan Schwind’s sixth-inning grand slam.
Tavarez led off for Portland and recorded a 4-for-6 night with two runs. He continues to lead the Eastern League in batting at .340 and is closing in on Kevin Millar’s franchise record of .342 in 1997.
Dubon went 3 for 6 with four RBI, including a two-run homer in Game 2, his third of the season. Dubon is batting .319.
Portland also got home runs from Nate Freiman (solo shot, first game) and Cole Sturgeon (two-run blast, Game 2).
Portland (46-74) is still last in the Eastern League East Division. The Curve (67-54) lead the West by 4½ games.
In the first game, Altoona had seven hits and 10 walks against three Portland pitchers but left 12 on base.
Ty Buttrey (1-9) got his first Double-A win with 11/3 innings of relief. Ben Taylor pitched a 1-2-3 seventh for his fourth save.
Boston Red Sox reliever Brandon Workman, coming back from Tommy John surgery last year, made a rehab appearance, allowing two runs on three hits and five walks over 12/3 innings.
Workman left with the bases loaded and two outs in the fifth. Buttrey entered and induced a groundout to keep the score 3-3.
In the bottom of the fifth, Rainel Rosario and Tavarez singled. Rosario scored the winning run on a Dubon groundout.
In the second game, Sea Dogs starter Jalen Beeks (4-3) left with two runners on and Portland up 4-3. Williams Jerez relieved and gave up a single, then Schwind’s blast to right field.
NOTES: The announced paid attendance was 5,585. … Top Red Sox prospect Yoan Moncada sat out a fourth straight day because of his sprained ankle. Moncada did take pregame grounders at third base and took part in batting practice. … Freiman’s home run was his ninth. … The Sea Dogs and Curve return to Hadlock on Thursday. At 5 p.m., the teams will resume a game suspended by rain Tuesday night (Altoona is leading 2-0 in the bottom of the fourth). A second game will begin at 7 p.m.
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