Justin Dunn was Boston College’s closer in mid-April of his junior season in 2016.

Then he was moved to the rotation and the Eagles took off. Dunn led BC to the NCAA Super Regionals and was a first-round draft pick of the New York Mets.

Dunn, 22, made his Portland debut Tuesday night, and mowed down the Sea Dogs. Behind Dunn’s two-hit pitching, the Binghamton Rumble Ponies beat Portland 2-1 before a sellout of 7,368 at Hadlock Field.

Dunn (2-2), making his fifth Double-A start, struck out nine over 72/3 innings, allowing two walks and one run.

The Sea Dogs countered with an impressive spot start by Daniel McGrath. The lefty reliever put in his longest outing, allowing one run on five hits and one walk over five innings, striking out three.

Reliever Trey Ball (2-3) took the loss. With two outs in the eighth inning, Ball allowed a single, walk and winning RBI double by Tomas Nido.

Matthew Gorst kept his Double-A ERA at 0.00 (four games) with a hitless ninth, which included a strikeout of Tim Tebow.

Tebow, who drew cheers, boos and plenty of autograph seekers, went 1 for 4 as Binghamton’s designated hitter. Tebow singled with two outs in the fifth, advanced to second on a walk and tried to score on Levi Michael’s bloop single to left.

Left fielder Jantzen Witte charged the ball, trying to snag it in the air. It bounced, but Witte came up with the ball and threw Tebow out at home – a close play that Tebow disagreed with by hopping up and down.

That ended McGrath’s outing. He began the game in trouble, allowing back-to-back doubles, but settled down.

“He mixed it around and executed well,” Portland pitching coach Paul Abbott said. “He goes double-double, and then pitches five scoreless.”

Portland answered in the first when Danny Mars led off with a triple, lining it down the right-field line. Mars scored on a grounder.

“He was really good,” Mars said. “Had a lot of life to his fastball and he threw three pitches for strikes (including a change-up and hard curve) at any count.”

Abbott was impressed: “Impressive. He threw upper-level stuff today.”

NOTES: With the Sea Dogs on the road Wednesday, they celebrated the Fourth on Tuesday with the traditional fare, including the Bellamy Jazz Band greeting fans outside and Rene Rancourt singing all four verses of the national anthem … The Sea Dogs will be in Hartford the next five days before going on the three-day All-Star break. They return to Hadlock Field on July 12 … The Sea Dogs wore special Fourth of July caps. The caps are on sale with some of the proceeds benefiting causes for veterans … At Lowell, corner infielder Michael Chavis went 1 for 3 with a double and walk. He could rejoin the Sea Dogs in Hartford.

Kevin Thomas can be reached at 791-7411 or:

kthomas@pressherald.com

Twitter: @ClearTheBases

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