Red Sox "On Deck": Bump in the Road

Portland had difficulty in navigating a “bump” Wednesday night at Dodd Stadium—Nate Bump, to be specific.

Bump, a 32-year-old right-hander, held the Sea Dogs to one run on six hits over six innings as the Connecticut Defenders prevailed, 5-1.

If the name Nate Bump sounds familiar, it should.

He pitched for Portland from 1999-2002 and still ranks third in franchise history in innings pitched (375).

Bump (2-3), who was with the Marlins for three seasons, signed a minor league contract with the Giants earlier this season. He walked two, struck out three and threw 50 of 83 pitches for strikes.

“Bump moved the ball around on us, changed speeds and worked ahead in the count,” said manager Arnie Beyeler. “He pitched a nice game. He had command and got guys to hit the ball off the end of the bat and hit the ball in the air.

“We didn’t do very much tonight.”

The Sea Dogs certainly didn’t do much against Connecticut’s bullpen, as Kelvin Pichardo and Osiris Matos combined to blank Portland on two hits and strike out six over the last three innings.

Bump was opposed by another veteran pitcher, lefty Dave Gassner (0-3), who was signed out of the independent Atlantic League and was making his fourth appearance for Portland.

Gassner blanked Connecticut on three hits over the first four innings before the Defenders clipped him for three runs in the fifth and two in the sixth.

“We had a matchup out there of veteran guys and (Gassner) made a couple of mistakes…he got the ball up and they hit him,” said Beyeler. “It was as simple as that.

“He did a nice job of giving us some innings and got some outs. But they got a couple of big hits.”

Portland scored its lone run in the fourth when Zach Daeges doubled into the right-field corner with one out and raced home on Sandy Madera’s single.

The Sea Dogs’ inning might have been more productive if third baseman Ryan Rohlinger hadn’t robbed leadoff batter Tony Granadillo and thrown him out by a step.

Connecticut tied it when Adam Witter crushed a leadoff homer in the fifth. Then, Jake Wald singled and Gassner fielded
Richardson’s sacrifice bunt—and hit him in the back with his throw for an error.

Ben Copeland followed with a sacrifice bunt and Olmo Rosario lined a two-run double off the right-field fence.

The Defenders picked up where they left off in the sixth when Eddy Martinez-Esteve and Dave Maroul led with singles and advanced on Witter’s groundout to first.

Gassner fanned Wald, but Portland caught a tough break when the speedy Richardson pulled a hard grounder toward first that kissed off Aaron Bates’ glove for a two-run infield hit.

Bates tried to backhand the ball, but even if he stopped it, there wasn’t a guarantee he could have thrown out Richardson.

“He couldn’t have gotten in front of it…he’s got to try and backhand the ball,” said Beyeler. “They’re playing in because with two outs (Richardson) might drop a bunt down. You have to respect his speed.

“He hit the ball hard and ‘Batsey’ got his glove on it. Even if he catches the ball, you can’t assume (he’ll make the play). We were unfortunate but with a guy with speed like his, you don’t know.”

One bright spot for the Sea Dogs was the relief work of Daniel Bard, Boston’s first-round pick (28th overall) in the 2006 draft.

Bard tossed two scoreless innings of one-hit ball and retired the last five Defenders in order.

“If we had tied it (in the ninth), he was going back out there,” said Beyeler.