PORTLAND — There was a thorn in the side of the Portland Sea Dogs on Thursday afternoon, and his name was John Drennen.

The left fielder for the Akron Aeros went 2 for 4, smacking a home run and a double while collecting 5 RBIs in the Aeros’ 13-5 win over the Sea Dogs in front of 6,584 fans at Hadlock Field.

“Everybody came out and was swinging the bat well,” Drennen said. “It’s nice to do that.”

With the loss, the Sea Dogs dropped to 49-68 on the season.

Portland starter Chris Balcom-Miller had a strong outing ”“ for four of his five innings of work -”“ as a four-run fourth inning was the blip on his afternoon.

Balcom-Miller finished with eight strikeouts in five innings, allowing five runs on four hits.

“Today the walks, the free passes hurt us,” Sea Dogs manager Kevin Boles said. “I thought Balcom-Miller had some pretty good stuff today, particularly down in the zone. But we just gave up too many free passes today.”

As a unit, the Portland pitching staff struck out 15 batters, but also allowed eight walks.

Sea Dogs third baseman Will Middlebrooks led the team offensively on the day, going 3-for-5 with a home run and three RBIs, and Ronald Bermudez went 4-for- 4 with a double and an RBI on the afternoon.

For the third game in a row, the Aeros struck first. Raul Padron put Akron on the scoreboard in the top of the first on an RBI single to right field, plating Ben Copeland, giving Akron a 1-0 lead.

The Sea Dogs ran themselves out of tying the game in both the first and second innings. In the first, designated hitter Mark Wagner singled to right field, but was caught in a rundown, allowing Alex Hassan to move to third, but adding a second out to the inning as well. Middlebrooks followed by flying out to center field, ending the inning.

Portland ran into a tougher situation in the second. With runners on first and second, a groundball hit by second baseman Oscar Tejada was fielded by Akron shortstop Juan Diaz. Sea Dogs catcher Matt Spring ran toward home, Diaz fired home and catcher Michel Hernandez applied the tag for the out. Portland ended the inning without a run.

The scoring floodgates finally opened in the third inning, when Middlebrooks smacked a T.J. McFarland pitch to center field, scoring left fielder Ryan Khoury, tying the game at 1-1. Two batters later, Bermudez hit a McFarland slider to right field, scoring Wagner and giving Portland the 2-1 lead, and was followed by an RBI double off the Maine Monster in left field by Tejada, giving the Sea Dogs a 3-1 lead.

Things began to unravel for Balcom-Miller in the fourth inning, as he gave up four runs on three hits, highlighted by an two-run double by Drennen, giving the Aeros a 5-3 lead. But Balcom-Miller finished the inning strong, striking out the final two batters to get out of the inning.

The Sea Dogs got a run back in the bottom of the inning, as Middlebrooks singled to center field, scoring Khoury from second, bringing the score to 5-4 in favor of Akron.

Balcom-Miller was pulled in favor of reliever Eammon Portice in the sixth inning, and the Aeros would take advantage. Particularly Drennen, who slammed a Portice pitch off the corner of the scoreboard in left field for a three-run homer, giving Akron a comfortable 8-4 lead.

“I was just trying to be patient and get a good pitch to hit,” Drennen said. “I just put a good swing on it.”

The Sea Dogs would get one more opportunity to tie the game in the sixth, loading the bases for Middlebrooks with one out. But he would hit into a double-play, ending the inning.

Things went from bad to ugly in the seventh for Portland. Two runs were scored on wild pitches, and after Portice was relieved by Michael Lee, Akron right fielder Donnie Webb rocked a pitch into the seats in right field for a three-run homer, giving the Aeros a 13-4 lead.

Middlebrooks put up the final run of the game in the bottom of the ninth, blasting his solo home run over the center field wall to bring the score to 13-5.

The Sea Dogs left 29 runners on base in the contest. 

NOTES: Baseball America came out with its “Bests” of the Eastern League in 2011 for this season. According to Eastern League managers, Middlebrooks is the best hitter in the league this year, Hassan has the best strike zone judgment. Entering Thursday’s game, Middlebrooks was hitting .300 with 15 home runs and 70 RBIs in his time in Portland this year. Hassan has an on-base percentage of .412 and has walked 67 times this year, while striking out only 65 times”¦

Relief pitcher Jeremy Kehrt was activated from the Triple-A Pawtucket disabled list and sent to Portland. He takes over for pitcher Caleb Clay, who was put on the disabled list on Wednesday with back inflammation. Khert has spent the majority of his time in Portland this year, with a 1-0 record and a 4.50 ERA in 16 games. He was successful in his stint with the Paw Sox, as he held a 1-0 record and a 3.45 ERA in seven games.

The Sea Dogs 3-0 loss to Akron on Wednesday night was the first time Portland had been shut out all season”¦

Khoury, who is now second all-time in Sea Dogs history in games with 301, took over the franchise record in walks on Thursday with 153 in his career in Portland. He also surpassed former Boston Red Sox first baseman Kevin Millar for the franchise record in runs scored, as Khoury scored two on Thursday, giving him 166 as a Sea Dog”¦  

Entering Thursday’s game, Sea Dogs catcher Dan Butler had hit safely in all of his first six starts in Double-A. Butler was called up to Portland from Class-A Salem on Aug. 3. Butler did not start in the game on Thursday”¦

The Sea Dogs begin a three-game series this evening with the Erie SeaWolves, the Double-A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers. Scheduled to take the mound for the Sea Dogs will be L.J. Gagnier, who is 3-5 with a 5.35 ERA this season. Also scheduled to pitch for Portland in the series is staff ace Alex Wilson (9-4, 2.93 ERA) on Saturday and knuckleballer Charlie Haeger (2-0, 3.71) coming on his best start of the season, pitching on Sunday.

— Contact Dave Dyer at 282-1535 Ext. 318 or follow on Twitter @Dave_Dyer.