Sometimes in Double-A baseball, even the broadcasters get the call to the major leagues.
Emma Tiedemann and Rylee Pay, the broadcast team for the Portland Sea Dogs, will make their Major League Baseball debut Aug. 26 on NESN’s broadcast of the Red Sox game against the Toronto Blue Jays. The opportunity is part of the Women’s Celebration Game at Fenway Park.
“They do a great job having female producers and directors behind the scenes, but wanted to get more voices active in the booth. They contacted Rylee and I, and it’s an opportunity we couldn’t pass up,” said Tiedemann, who has been the play-by-play voice of the Sea Dogs since the 2021 season. Hired in 2020, Tiedemann had to wait a year to call her first Sea Dogs game when the 2020 season was cancelled due to the pandemic.
Pay joined Tiedemann in the booth last season, making the pair just the second all-female baseball broadcasting team, and the only currently active one. Both think their strong on-air rapport will shine through on NESN.
“I think our chemistry will be apparent, and just having so many former Sea Dogs on the field to talk about, I think that will make the transition from Double-A to the big leagues pretty easy,” Tiedemann said.
Pay joined the Sea Dogs last season as she completed her degree in journalism from UNLV. After she wrapped up the postgame show following Portland’s 4-2 win over Altoona on Thursday afternoon, Pay said she’s honored to share this opportunity with Tiedemann.
“The mentor that she’s been for me, and how she’s helped shape my broadcast career, especially right out of college,” Pay said. “I’m really excited to have her alongside in that whole experience. To have her there, it’s like another Sea Dogs game.”
The game against the Blue Jays will be the second half of a doubleheader, and will follow the game suspended by rain on June 26. The plan is for Tiedemann and Pay to work the entire game with Boston’s team of play-by-play voice Dave O’Brien and color analyst Kevin Youkilis, with Tiedemann and Pay taking the play-by-play call for the middle three innings.
THURSDAY’S WIN WAS Portland’s 12th in 13 games. Now 23-11 in the second half of the season, the Sea Dogs took a 2 1/2-game lead over the Somerset Patriots in the Eastern League’s Northeast Division with the win. Somerset was scheduled to play Binghamton on Thursday night.
Portland Manager Chad Epperson said the bullpen has been a key to the team’s current hot streak. On Thursday, Jacob Webb, Christopher Troye, and Zach Bryant combined to throw 4 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing one hit and one walk while striking out seven.
“Our bullpen has come in and thrown strikes, and we’re not giving up free passes like we were. It seems like when we gave up the free pass, those guys are crossing the plate,” Epperson said.
At the plate, a number of players have contributed. Thursday, second baseman Ahbram Liendo had his first hit since being called up to Portland from High-A Greenville on Aug. 1, a two-run single with two outs in the bottom of the second to tie the game 2-2. Backup catcher Elih Marrero had four hits, including a pair of home runs, in Wednesday’s 13-8 win over the curve, while Roman Anthony had four hits from the leadoff spot. Infielder Drew Ehrhard is hitting .364 with a .417 on-base percentage since getting called up from Greenville in July.
With five and a half weeks left in the regular season, Epperson said it’s too soon to scoreboard watch. Should the Sea Dogs maintain first place, they’ll take on Hartford, the first-half winner, in the first round of the Eastern League playoffs.
“We show up tomorrow and we get back to work. But they know. They talk about the streak. It’s keeping the energy up. We’re using everybody. It’s not like it’s the same cats out there. It’s a team effort for sure,” Epperson said.
SHORTSTOP MARCELO MAYER could return from the injured list Friday, Epperson said. The top prospect in the Red Sox system according to MLB Pipeline, Mayer went on the injured list Aug. 1 with a lower-back injury. Before Thursday’s game, Mayer was on the field, taking ground balls from Epperson and running the bases.
“Fingers crossed, (Friday) will be the day. We’ll see, obviously a lot of movement today, running the bases, ground balls, hitting,” Epperson said. “We’ll see how he comes in tomorrow. If everything checks out, he should be able to go in the lineup tomorrow.”
Even though he hasn’t played since July 30, Mayer, the fourth overall pick in the 2021 draft, still leads all of Double-A with 28 doubles.
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