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For the second straight night, Portland blows leads and suffers a one-run defeat on the road against the Baysox.

By DAVID DRIVER, Special to the Press Herald August 17, 2009

BOWIE, Md. — Lars Anderson thrust his left fist into the air in frustration after Bowie first baseman Eric Crozier retired him on a routine grounder to start the ninth inning.

It was one of those nights for Anderson and the Portland Sea Dogs, who blew a two-run lead and lost 5-4 Sunday night in the final game of a three-game series.

Portland Manager Arnie Beyeler and his team were convinced Anderson's drive down the right-field line in the sixth should have been ruled a home run and not a foul ball by first-base umpire Shaun Francis.

"(The umpires) got together and no one saw it different," Beyeler said. "If you miss a call that bad, what are you going to do? They are not going to overrule the guys closer to the ball."

The Sea Dogs (58-61), who lost every road series this season to teams from the Eastern League Southern Division, are 1 1/2 games behind second-place New Britain in the Northern Division and a half-game back of Trenton.

"We gave away a couple of opportunities, myself included," said Sea Dogs second baseman Ryan Khoury, who popped up with two runners on and no outs in the fifth and made a key error in Saturday's 4-3 loss to the Baysox. "We have to do a better job. We have to shore up the defense."

Ryan Kalish, with three hits and three RBI, fell a double short of the cycle, but no one else in the Portland lineup had more than one hit.

"We have been in that boat all year," Beyeler said. "We have young guys who are inconsistent. That is why they are here. It is just a consistency factor."

Bowie took a 5-4 lead in the seventh when Miguel Abreu doubled with two outs against Ryne Miller (2-2), who was replaced by Tommy Hottovy.

Paco Figueroa followed with a liner up the middle that glanced off Hottovy and went towards short. Yamaico Navarro tried to make a barehand play, but the ball got past him as Abreu scored.

"There is no play at first. We have to keep that ball on the infield," Beyeler said. "That cost us a run."

Bowie tied the game in the sixth as Portland left fielder Jason Place appeared to lose Jason White's fly ball in the lights and had the ball bounce off his glove for an error. That scored Figueroa to make it 4-3, and Jonathan Tucker followed with a ground-rule double to tie the game.

Bowie starter Pedro Beato allowed four runs in six innings in his third Double-A start. "He got more aggressive" as the game progressed, Beyeler said.

Beato was replaced by Zach Clark (2-1), who combined with Chad Thall and Ryan Ouellette to shut down the Dogs.

Portland starter Ryne Lawson, who entered the game 0-6 on the road this season, retired his first six batters but ran into trouble in the fourth. The Baysox took a 2-1 lead when Josh Bell crushed a homer to left-center field.

Lawson left with one out in the fifth after giving up a single to Jonathan Tucker and hitting Daniel Figueroa. Miller came in to face Bell, who lined out to right before Crozier flied out to deep center to end the threat.

Kalish gave the Sea Dogs a 1-0 lead in the first with a home run to right field.