PORTLAND — Before the Portland Sea Dogs game Tuesday night at Hadlock Field, there was plenty to see.
In the afternoon, slugging third-base prospect Bobby Dalbec worked out at first base.
Just before the game, the Sea Dogs inducted two new members to their Hall of Fame — outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury and team president Charlie Eshbach.
As for the game, Jon Berti hit for the cycle and Bo Bichette drove in three runs with two doubles and a home run to lead the New Hampshire Fisher Cats to an 8-4 win over the Sea Dogs before a crowd of 4,693.
Esteban Quiroz, Chad De La Guerra and Tate Matheny homered for the Sea Dogs.
Berti, who had a single, double and triple, homered off reliever Jordan Weems in the ninth.
Sea Dogs starter Teddy Stankiewicz (7-12) had his toughest outing in three months, allowing six runs (five earned) over five innings.
Stankiewicz’s five innings gave him 141 1/3 innings for the season, a personal high. Stankiewicz also extended his franchise-record for innings (416 2/3 innings).
Portland took a 2-1 lead in the first on a two-run blast by Quiroz, the free agent from the Mexican League who has spent the past three months on the disabled list.
Bichette, son of former major leaguer Dante Bichette, hit a two-run home run in the third. Harold Ramirez made it back-to-back homers as the Fisher Cats led 4-2.
De La Guerra’s homer cut it to 4-3 in the third, but that was all for Portland until Matheny’s homer in the ninth.
Red Sox pitching prospect Darwinzon Hernandez made his Hadlock debut in the eighth. With a fastball sitting at 95-96 mph, and topping at 97, Hernandez pitched a scoreless inning (one walk) with one strikeout.
The Fisher Cats (74-58) were able to keep their one-game lead on Trenton in the Eastern League East division. Portland dropped to 59-74.
NOTES: Dalbec, who has hit 32 home runs this year, plays a position crowded with talent (Rafael Devers in Boston and Michael Chavis in Pawtucket). Thus, the workout at first base with Manager Darren Fenster. “It feels comfortable,” said the 6-foot-4 Dalbec, who played first base his freshman year at the University of Arizona. Fenster said the first-base option “gives him more versatility, which was the same thought as Chavis.” Late last season, Chavis worked out at first base, then played some in the offseason, and now plays both corner spots.
Ellsbury played for the Sea Dogs in the 2006 title season and the start of 2007. He batted .347 in 67 games, going on to win two World Series rings with the Red Sox before signing with the Yankees as a free agent. … Eshbach, the former Eastern League president, has been the Sea Dogs president since the franchise came to Portland … Stankiewicz, who has pitched three full seasons for Portland, is second in franchise history in total starts (66), behind Michael Tejera (68 starts, 1998-99, 2001). Stankiewicz could have had the record but he “piggy-backed” six games, relieving after short stints by starters.
The annual Field of Dreams game is Wednesday. Players will be arriving through the “cornfield” at 7 p.m., with the game tentatively scheduled for 7:20 p.m.
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