Pitching matchup: RHP Graham Stoneburner (0-0, 1.80) vs. LHP Chris Hernandez (1-2, 1.99)

In the standings: Third-place Trenton is 4.5 games back of Reading in the EL East, and 3 back of New Britain for the wild card. Last-place Portland is 10.5 games back of first and 9 games behind the Rock Cats. 

PORTLAND

Jeremy Hazelbaker - RF

Kolbrin Vitek - 3B

Juan Linares - CF

Reynaldo Rodriguez - 1B

Oscar Tejeda - LF

Bryce Brentz - DH

Dan Butler - C

Derrik Gibson - SS

Heiker Meneses - 2B

Chris Hernandez - LHP

TRENTON 

Abe Almonte - RF

Dan Brewer - LF

Luke Murton - 1B

Cody Johnson - DH

Melky Mesa - CF

Kevin Mahoney - 3B

Jose Gil - C

Jose Toussen - 2B

Addison Maruszak - SS

Graham Stoneburner - RHP

NOTES: Before last night's standout effort, Addison Maruszak had committed 10 errors, nearly a third of the team's total. He admitted after the game that, even though he was drafted as a shortstop, he hadn't been fully comfortable at the position of late. 

"I've been struggling at shortstop, making more errors than I think I've ever made in my career so far. I had a good talk with some people in the organization, and it's more of a 'It's OK what happened, let's move forward and get better," and that's what I've been doing. I've been working at it. Obviously I still need some work, so I'm going to keep working at it until it becomes what it was, what, three years ago, when I played there every day."

"I lost a little bit, but I'm gaining it back now. It's not going to take long. It could take one practice to gain the feeling back. I felt pretty good today, but not like I did three years ago."

Manager Tony Franklin offered extremely high praise when talking about Brett Marshall, last night's starter, even going so far as softly comparing him to Ian Kennedy and Edwar Ramirez, two of the Thunder's better pitchers in recent seasons

Before getting to comparisons, however, he threw some kind words at his change-up. 

"His change-up's tremendous. It's got so much depth in it (that) it looks like a curveball almost. What makes it such a pretty good pitch is that his arm slot is the same and his arm speed on the pitch is the same as his fastball, and he gets a lot of swings and misses on his fastball.

Then came the vaunted comps.

"He comes pretty close to Ian Kennedy, for me. Ian could take a ball and throw it exactly where he wanted it. He pitches in as well as anyone I've ever seen (at this level). I think he understands the importance of pitching in on hitters. ... For the most part, he's in on guys and he knows he can get in there, and that's pretty good."

"His change-up reminds me quite a bit of Edwar Ramirez's. Not as good, not as good. It's not a power change like Edwar's was, but it's got the makings of some pretty good depth."