The Portland Pickles snagged a 1-0 victory over the Bellingham Bells on Saturday to take a 2-0 series lead. Bellingham went scoreless for the second straight game, and are currently amidst a 20-inning scoreless streak, dating back to June 17 against Port Angeles.

Despite the loss, the Bells pitching was dominant. Portland had only one hit, and the lone run came on a sacrifice fly in the 2nd. Thatcher Hurd (1.2 IP, o H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 2 K) struggled to find the strikezone and was tagged with the loss in his Bells debut. The rest of the staff in relief was terrific, tossing 7.1 scoreless innings. Ryan Beitel (4.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K) earned Player of the Game honors, and Connor Portugal (1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K) struck out every batter he saw. Noah Ferguson (1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K) also put together a strong outing.

Bellingham only had two hits and committed one error. Both hits came in the 4th inning, where CF Daniel Gernon lead off with a single and DH Cole Miller followed it with a stand-up double. LF Grayson Sterling followed the hits with a walk to load the bases with no outs, but the next three batters were retired. The Bells drew five walks and left a total of eight runners on base.

The Bells will look to get the bats going tomorrow in the series finale against the Pickles. The Father’s Day game has first pitch scheduled for 1:05 PM, so grab your dad and come down to Joe Martin to celebrate. You can get tickets at www.bellstickets.com.