PORTLAND — The last player to leave Hadlock Field on Saturday night was Mike Shawaryn, who left 18 tickets for friends and family members visiting from New Jersey and Massachusetts to watch him pitch for the Sea Dogs.
Ever the gracious host, Shawaryn put on a show for the folks from away, taking a perfect game into the fourth inning and allowing only three hits in seven innings as the Sea Dogs roughed up the Binghamton Rumble Ponies 8-2 before a crowd of 6,095.
The only hiccup for Shawaryn (4-6) came when he opened the fourth with consecutive walks and earned a mound visit from pitching coach Paul Abbott.
“Sometimes I get a little too tense and try to force the issue,” Shawaryn said, “instead of relaxing and letting it happen.”
He lost his shutout bid on a groundout in the fourth inning and the no-hitter on a two-out bouncer up the middle that scored another run and pulled the Ponies within 3-2. Shawaryn retired eight of the next nine batters and matched his longest outing of the season. He struck out two, walked three and dropped his ERA to 3.55.
“It’s always in the back of your mind,” he said of the possibility of a no-hitter, “but at the end of the day, you’re always trying to put the team in a position to win. Whether that’s no hits, a perfect game, or you give up five runs and you win by one, it’s whatever you can possibly do on the mound.”
Matthew Gorst, making his third appearance of the season for the Sea Dogs, finished up with two hitless innings. He struck out two and retired the last five batters.
The victory snapped a three-game losing streak for the Dogs, who finished with 13 hits – seven for extra bases.
Luke Tendler’s eighth home run was a 419-foot blast high into the right-field pavilion following a leadoff single by Tate Matheny in the second.
Tendler, Chad De La Guerra, Josh Ockimey, Johnny Bladel, Danny Mars and Jeremy Rivera each doubled. Everyone in the lineup had at least one hit.
“When you’ve got a pitcher who’s got his A game going, it definitely helps,” Tendler said. “You want to stay on the offensive side as long as possible.”
The Sea Dogs had multiple hits in six of the first seven innings.
NOTES: Tom Caron, the NESN television host for Red Sox broadcasts and a 1982 graduate of Lewiston High, threw out the ceremonial first pitch after assuming the “cormorant drying its wings” pose preferred by Sox closer Craig Kimbrel peering in for signs. The first 1,000 fans through the gate received a Caron bobblehead. …
Zachary Brownstein, 13, of New York City wore one of the $27 Tim Tebow jersey shirts available for sale in the Sea Dogs souvenir store, then made eye contact with the Binghamton left fielder after Tebow snagged a sinking liner to end the fourth inning. As he approached the visiting dugout, Tebow tossed the baseball over the high protective netting to Brownstein.
“It was an amazing feeling,” said Brownstein, celebrating back in the green seats with fellow summer campers from Camp Androscoggin in Wayne. The campers got Tebow to respond to a chanted wave request from the on-deck circle. The former football star went 1 for 3 with a ground single to right.
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