The Harrisburg Senators left Portland with a split, but the week was anything but routine. Across six games against the Sea Dogs, Harrisburg showed off plenty of fight, a few crooked-number innings, and one red-hot bat that kept showing up every night.
That bat belonged to Branden Boissiere. He finished the series with a hit in 12 straight games, and his production kept stacking up as the week went on.
Boissiere had three hits, a homer and four RBIs in the Senators’ 9-6 comeback win on July 29, then kept the streak alive with hits in each of the next three games. By the end of the set, he’d extended the run to 12 games and added another homer in the August 2 finale.
Harrisburg’s biggest comeback came in the second game of the series. Trailing 6-4 in the ninth on July 29, the Senators put together a furious rally.
Boissiere’s two-out single tied it, Thomas scored on an error after a double steal, and Petry followed with a two-run homer to blow the game open at 9-6. Jimenez, making his debut, finished things off by retiring the side in order.
Lyon also gave Harrisburg a steady foundation, working five innings and allowing just one run while continuing a streak of seven straight starts with two or fewer runs allowed.
The next night, though, the finish went the other way. Harrisburg opened with a 2-0 lead on Lawson’s homer and a sacrifice fly from Boissiere, but Portland clawed back.
The Sea Dogs hit two homers in the fourth, McDonough added another in the fifth, and the Senators answered with an RBI single from Petersen in the sixth to go back ahead. In the ninth, Gaston ran into trouble, and a walk, a single, and a pair of errors led to the tying and winning runs in a 5-4 walk-off loss.
Even in defeat, Boissiere kept the streak rolling to nine games, while Alex Clemmey set the tone early with 2.1 innings, one run allowed, and five strikeouts. Huff and Brown then combined for 2.2 scoreless innings out of the bullpen.
Harrisburg got right back on track July 31 in a wild 9-6 win that featured both clubs loading the bases twice. Petersen doubled and Boissiere singled in the first to give the Senators an early lead, and Boissiere’s hit stretched his streak to 10 games.
Portland kept hanging around, though, tying the game twice before Harrisburg finally broke through again in the eighth on an RBI single from Boissiere. Petersen then added two more RBIs in the ninth, and Jimenez escaped a bases-loaded jam to close it out.
The game lasted 3 hours and 28 minutes, the longest of Harrisburg’s season, and it featured 20 walks and more than 400 pitches.
The Senators had another early burst on August 1, jumping ahead 4-0 behind Petersen’s leadoff single, Pichardo’s two-run homer, and another RBI double from Boissiere, who pushed his hitting streak to 11 games. But Portland answered with two runs in the third, another in the fifth, and then took control in a six-run sixth.
Harrisburg’s bullpen couldn’t hold the lead, and the Senators were shut down in order in the ninth of a 7-4 loss. The game included seven walks from Harrisburg pitching.
The series ended on August 2 with Portland in full command. The Sea Dogs scored four in the fourth, including Fraizer’s bases-clearing double, then broke the game open with an eight-run sixth.
Rosario’s three-run homer capped the rally after eight straight batters reached base and scored. Harrisburg got on the board on Petry’s RBI single in the sixth and later added a Boissiere homer in the eighth, but the damage was already done in a 12-2 loss.
Boissiere’s recent run also came with a quote from his high school coach at Woodcrest Christian school: “It’s a pleasure to see [Brandon] play every day. He’s just an easy going kid with off-the-charts ability. He’s special.”
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