Sea Dogs lick wounds after losing five of six to Defenders

Fortunately for Portland, Monday is an off day.

The Sea Dogs can use the time to lick their wounds after dropping five of six games to the Connecticut Defenders.

Perhaps Sunday’s loss was the most difficult to swallow because Portland led 8-6 in the eighth only to have Connecticut erupt for four runs and a 10-8 lead.

Portland scored a run in the ninth and had the tying run thrown out at the plate — which ended the game and preserved a 10-9 victory for Connecticut.

In retrospect, Sunday’s game was a microcosm of the series in that the Sea Dogs left too many runners on base (12 in this case).

Portland stranded 49 runners in the series.

“The story of the whole series was they got guys on base and got them in and we got guys on base and didn’t — unless they made a mistake,” Manager Arnie Beyeler said. “Our guys had to work for everything they got because (Connecticut’s pitchers) threw strikes and worked ahead in the count.

“We gave them opportunities and they took advantage of them.”

Portland partially took advantage of a golden opportunity in the ninth.

Josh Reddick drew a leadoff walk from Jason Waddell and reached second on Ryan Khoury’s third single.

Iggy Suarez executed a sacrifice bunt but Jorge Jimenez ended an 11-pitch at-bat by popping out to short right, which prevented Reddick from scoring.

Zach Daeges then hit a grounder to the left side that shortstop Kyle Haines stabbed with a back-hand dive. Reddick scored on the infield hit, but when Khoury tried to score from second, Haines — while on his right knee — threw a strike to Pablo Sandoval for the final out.

Portland could have made that inning irrelevant if it had capitalized on a two-on, no-out situation in the eighth. But Connecticut’s Steve Palazzo (5-2) fanned Daeges and Aaron Bates, and after walking Lars Anderson, fanned Mark Wagner.

Lost in the rubble was a commendable effort by Ryne Lawson, who made his second Double-A start after being recalled from Greenville early last week.

Granted, Lawson allowed six runs on seven hits in six innings. But three runs were unearned because of two Portland errors and he ended three Connecticut threats by inducing a Defender to ground into a double play.

“He came back and threw up two zeroes,” Beyeler said, referring to the fourth and fifth innings which followed a four-run third. “We haven’t thrown up two zeroes since we’ve been here.

“After we got runs, he gave us a chance. I thought he did an outstanding job.”

Miguel Asencio’s relief performance was anything but outstanding because Connecticut sent up 10 batters in the eighth and scored four runs on four hits and two walks for a 10-8 lead.

Asencio’s blown save also overshadowed a two-run homer by Mickey Hall that gave Portland a 6-5 lead in the fourth and RBI singles by Khoury that gave Portland leads of 7-5 in the fifth and 8-6 in the seventh.