PORTLAND — It’s deja vu all over again.

Two nights in a row. Two strong pitching performances. Neither end in a win for the Portland Sea Dogs.

Though the Sea Dogs had another strong start on the mound, offensive woes and the bullpen resulted in a 4-1 loss for Portland against the Harrisburg Senators in front of a sold out crowd of 7,368 fans at Hadlock Field on Tuesday night. Portland fell in the same fashion on Monday night, after Blake Maxwell struggled after a strong start from Chris Balcom-Miller.

The Sea Dogs have been struggling with the bats during its current homestand. Entering Tuesday night’s game, Portland had a team batting average of .211 (30-142) in the four games leading up to Tuesday.

Portland manager Kevin Boles thinks the hitting woes may come from his hitters being over-aggressive at the plate.

“We’ve got to do some different things with this lineup,” Boles said. “We’ve had some pieces moved, and we’re going to tinker with this thing. We’re going to move some guys up and down the lineup. It’s not a lack of energy, we just need to have more productive [at-bats]. I think our guys are grinding out [at-bats], but I think they need to show a little more patience early on in the count. We’re a club that needs to work counts and see a lot of pitches and I think we’re just a little too aggressive early in the count.”

Much like Monday night, Tuesday featured two strong pitching performances. For Portland, Matt Rusch, who was signed from the Quebec Capitales of the Can-Am League a week ago, allowed two runs on four hits in six innings of work, walking one and striking out three Harrisburg hitters.

“Rusch was outstanding,” Boles said. “He was very efficient, and he had a quality mix down in the zone. He did a solid job for us, he really attacked the zone tonight.”

Rusch was one-upped by Harrisburg starter Daniel Rosenbaum, who struck out eight batters in seven innings of work.

Rusch’s one rough inning came in the second, as he allowed both runs on three hits, highlighted by a double off the Maine Monster in left by Tim Pahuta and a two-run single up the middle of the infield by Senators third baseman Adam Fox.

Portland retaliated in the bottom of the second. Sea Dogs designated hitter Reynaldo Rodriguez led the inning off with a double, before moving to third on a flyout to right field and scoring on a wild pitch by Rosenbaum to cut Harrisburg’s lead to 2-1.

Portland’s offense struggled against Rosenbaum for the rest of his start, as he would toss four consecutive hitless innings before giving way to reliever Pat Lehman.

“[Rosenbaum] pitched well,” Boles said. “He was able to slow the ball down in 0-0 counts. It looked like he had a feel with his changeup, his breaking ball. We were pretty much too aggressive in 0-0 counts, and he didn’t give in. He kept the ball down, worked ahead in the count, and obviously he had pretty good stuff tonight.”

Rusch would also settle down after giving up his two runs in the second, pitching three consecutive clean innings before reliever Michael Lee took over.

For the second straight night, the bullpen failed for Portland. Harrisburg added two more runs in the seventh thanks to a home run over the left field wall by Fox off of Lee, giving the Senators a 4-1 lead.

Portland strung together some offense in the seventh, grabbing back-to-back base hits. But Rosenbaum worked out of the inning with two fly outs and a strikeout to end the inning.

Hassan Pena came in to close out the ninth for Harrisburg, earning the save.

The Sea Dogs close out the series today at noon, before hitting the road for an eight-game road trip, the final road trip of the season. Starting for Portland will be Jeremy Kehrt (2-0, 4.52 ERA) against Oliver Perez (3-4, 3.13 ERA).

NOTES: It was rumored that Harrisburg outfielder Bryce Harper would take part in batting practice on Tuesday, but Harper did not show up to hit, or shag fly balls in the outfield. Harper spent the contest in the Senators’ bullpen down the left field line”¦

The Sea Dogs made a roster move, putting pitcher Miguel Gonzalez on the disabled list with right elbow inflammation. Gonzalez is 0-5 with a 6.17 ERA in 15 appearances this season”¦

Random fact of the day: Rusch was originally signed by the Detroit Tigers as a non-drafted free agent in 2005. He was signed by non other than former Boston Red Sox pitcher Bill Monbouquette”¦

Fans stayed after the contest to watch a fireworks display put on by the Sea Dogs.

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