On a slow afternoon at Prince George’s Stadium, the Bowie Baysox bats never quite got going, as they fell to the Portland Sea Dogs 3-0 on Wednesday.
The Baysox missed chances early to take the lead against Sea Dogs right-handed starter Sterling Sharp. Dylan Beavers doubled to lead off the first inning in his Double-A debut. After advancing to third on a fly out from Billy Cook, Beavers was thrown out trying to score on a ground ball to third from Jud Fabian. Bowie would go on to load the bases with two outs in the frame, but Donta’ Williams would groundout to first, keeping the Baysox from seizing the opportunity.
That missed momentum carried into the top of the fourth. After three scoreless innings from right-handed starter Alex Pham, back-to-back baserunners with one out was followed by a ground ball to second baseman Joseph Rosa for a potential inning-ending double play, but Rosa’s throw to second went wide of the base into left field. The error plated a run and gave Portland a 1-0. Pham would then strike out a pair to limit the damage there in the fourth.
In the bottom of the fifth, Bowie loaded the bases once again with two outs, but Williams would bounce out back to the mound, as Sharp (W, 3-4) would complete the put out to polish off five shutout innings on the afternoon for the Sea Dogs.
Portland got its insurance in the sixth, where two singles ended the day for Pham (L, 0-1) and put runners at the corners, as the right-hander struck out a Double-A career-best seven batters through 5.1 innings. Both runs would cross on his line, as right-hander Tyler Burch would allow back-to-back run-scoring hits upon entry out of the Bowie bullpen – first, an RBI double from Tyler Dearden, followed by an RBI single to shallow left field from Tyler Esplin.
In total, the Baysox just never fully got the bats going. Bowie saw its final nine batters retired in order, including a scoreless ninth from right-hander Luis Guerrero (S, ) while stranding 10 runners on base.
The loss drops Bowie’s record to 45-53 on the season. The Baysox look to continue their six-game series with the Sea Dogs on Thursday, with first pitch set for 6:35 p.m. ET from Prince George’s Stadium
