The game began Thursday night with two All-Star pitchers and a nice Hadlock Field crowd of 6,316.

Four hours and three minutes later, before a remnant of that throng, Aneury Tavarez ended it.

Tavarez’s walk-off home run, leading off the bottom of the ninth inning, gave the Portland Sea Dogs a 5-4 win over the Harrisburg Senators.

Portland (40-66) stopped a three-game losing streak and Harrisburg (50-56) lost its fifth straight.

The game included a weather delay of 1 hour, 38 minutes.

Rain halted play in the bottom of the second. While the rain stopped less than an hour later, the game was further delayed because of the possibility of more rain, which never came.

The delay took the game away from the starting pitchers, who were Eastern League All-Stars two weeks ago at Hadlock Field.

On Thursday, Portland’s William Cuevas gave up three runs in the second inning.

Harrisburg’s Austin Voth came into the game leading the league in strikeouts (108), and having allowed two earned runs over his last five starts. But he gave up two runs on two hits and two walks over 11/3 innings.

Carlos Asuaje scored in the first inning for Portland. He walked and got to third on a single (Sam Travis) and a ground-out, then scored on a wild pitch.

Harrisburg scored in the second on four singles. In the bottom of the second, with one out and Keury De La Cruz (double) on third base and Dustin Lawley (walk) on first, the rain came.

When play resumed at 9:20 p.m., Dakota Bacus took the mound for Harrisburg and his first pitch hit the dirt, then the backstop, allowing De La Cruz to score, closing the Dogs to 3-2.

Heri Quevedo relieved Cuevas with four innings of one-hit ball. He was in line to win when Portland got two in the sixth (De La Cruz RBI single, Lawley sacrifice fly), but Harrisburg made it 4-4 with a run off Madison Younginer (5-4) in the seventh.

In the bottom of the ninth, Tavarez tried to bunt against Gilberto Mendez (4-3) but fouled. He swatted a 2-2 pitch to right- center for his fourth home run.

NOTES: Manuel Margot was caught stealing second and is 10 of 14. … Lawley joined the Sea Dogs earlier in the week but Thursday was not his Hadlock debut. Lawley last played here July 13 as a third baseman for Binghamton. New York released him two days later and the Red Sox signed him. He played for Class A Salem before Double-A. … Harrisburg’s third baseman, Cutter Dykstra is the son of former major leaguer Lenny Dykstra. … Thursday was Disco Night at Hadlock but threatening weather canceled the appearance of disco band Motor Booty Affair. … Friday is Faith and Family night, featuring a Jason Gray concert from 5:45 to 6:30 p.m. … Friday is also “Bark in the Park” night with fans allowed to bring their dogs and sit in a special section (the dog also needs a ticket with proceeds going to the Planet Dog Foundation). … Harrisburg is in Portland for the weekend and the Senators’ scheduled starter Sunday is Luca Giolito, the Nationals’ No. 1 prospect and 2012 first-round pick.

Kevin Thomas can be reached at 791-6411 or at:

kthomas@pressherald.com

Twitter: ClearTheBases