Extra-base hits help Yard Goats beat Sea Dogs for 11th time in last 13 games

Hartford’s Ryan Metzler had three doubles and two RBI in the Yard Goats’ 5-2 win over Portland Wednesday.

PORTLAND, ME., May 23 – The Hartford Yard Goats don’t seem to have a problem with extra-base hits lately. Infielder Brandon Rodgers had game-winning home runs the previous two games.

On Wednesday, the Yard Goats beat the Portland Sea Dogs for the ninth straight time as Mylz Jones hit a home run and doubles while teammate Ryan Metzler added three doubles and two RBI in a 5-2 Eastern League decision at Hadlock Field.

Eight of Hartford’s 10 hits were for extra bases with six doubles and two home runs. And the Yard Goats (25-20) struck out 13 times. The Yard Goats are second in the Eastern League in home runs (46) and lead the league with 88 doubles.

Hartford starting pitcher Peter Lambert (3-1) pitched 5 2/3 innings to earn his second straight win on the mound. He allowed two runs on eight hits, struck out five and didn’t walk a batter. Reliever Logan Cozart pitched two scoreless innings and closer Matt Pierpont recorded his Eastern League-leading 13th save. It was also Pierpont’s eighth straight save.

The Yard Goats took a 3-0 lead in the fourth inning. Hartford’s Brian Mundell led off the inning with a home run to left center.   Following a single by Sam Hilliard and a double by Jones, Scott Burcham delivered a sacrifice fly and Metzler had an RBI-double.

Portland scored a run in the fifth on an RBI-single by Jantzen Witte.  But Hartford extended the lead to 4-1 on Metzler’s second RBI-double of the night.

But on his 100th pitch of the game, Lambert served up a sixth inning home run to Portland’s Austin Rei into the net above the “Maine Monster”  in left field, as Portland cut the lead in half, 4-2.  Lambert departed and reliever Marc Magliaro entered to get the third out.

Lambert pitched out of a bases loaded one-out jam in the first inning, throwing 29 pitches in the frame. He wiggled off the hook in the third inning, getting a fly out with runners and second and third.

Hartford owns an 11-2 lead in the season series with the Sea Dogs, Boston’s Double A affiliate. The final game of the three-game series begins Thursday morning at 11 a.m.