MANCHESTER, N.H. — Ryne Miller got things off to a great start.

Then a last-chance rally ended it, letting the Portland Sea Dogs salvage something out of a five-game series at New Hampshire with a 4-1 victory Monday night over the Fisher Cats at Merchantsauto.com Stadium.

The Sea Dogs trailed 1-0 with two outs and two runners on base, and shortstop Yamaico Navarro was down 0-2 in the count.

He fouled off three Leon Boyd pitches, watched a couple more just miss being called strikes and then ripped a two-run double to left field to put the Sea Dogs ahead, 2-1.

A walk and RBI singles by Ryan Khoury and Daniel Nava gave the Sea Dogs a cushion and despite a little trouble in the ninth, they closed it out to snap their four-game losing streak at New Hampshire.

"Navarro battled and battled and drove the ball," said Portland Manager Arnie Beyeler. "We took it down to the last strike and kind of snatched a victory out of jaws of defeat right at the last moment. It's a credit to the guys."

The Sea Dogs improved to 63-71 and return to Hadlock Field to close out the regular season with three games against Trenton starting tonight and then four more against New Hampshire.

Portland is four games behind second-place New Britain for the second and final playoff spot in the Eastern League Northern Division. The fourth-place Sea Dogs also are three games behind third-place Trenton.

As for Miller, he just might get used to this business of being a starting pitcher. His second career start as a professional was much like his first.

The right-hander allowed just two singles in 62/3 innings and left with the score 0-0.

"It's more fun to start," he said. "You get to work with a lot more pitches. You can establish pitches and get to work with other stuff."

Miller was moved into the rotation to replace Jarod Plummer, who is on the disabled list.

"When he comes back, I'm pretty sure he'll go back to starting and I'll go back to relieving," Miller said.

That's OK, too, he said.

After Miller left the game, New Hampshire scratched out a run in bottom of the seventh off lefty reliever Tommy Hottovy.

Speedy Darin Mastroianni led off with a bunt single. Hottovy got a strikeout, but a couple of wild pitches sent Mastroianni to third, and he hustled home on Al Quintana's fly ball to left field.

That looked like it was going to be enough for the Fisher Cats – until Navarro's heroics in the ninth.

NOTES: Right-hander Josh Papelbon, Jonathan Papelbon's brother, was in the bullpen for the Sea Dogs Tuesday night. He was added to the roster just before the game. Matt Sheely's back was bothering him and he was placed on the DL.

Papelbon was 5-2 with a 2.87 ERA in 34 relief appearances with Class A Salem.

Miller, 6-foot-4 and 230 pounds, signed with the Red Sox as a free agent out of Weatherford (Texas) College on July 21, 2007. He took a 2-2 record and 1.88 ERA with Portland into Monday night's game.

In his first professional start on Aug. 26 at Binghamton, Miller went five innings and allowed two hits and an unearned run while striking out eight and walking one.