PORTLAND — The Portland Sea Dogs (71-42) waited until the ninth inning to get on the board and fell just short, 2-1, to the Trenton Thunder (54-59) in the opener of a four-game Eastern League series Thursday night at Hadlock Field.

The loss marks the second in five games on the homestand for Portland.

Justin Haley made his Double-A debut for the Sea Dogs and didn’t miss a beat. The righty allowed the first two to reach to begin the game, but retired the next three in order, capped off by a strikeout.

Haley (0-1) retired the side in order in the second, but loaded the bases with nobody out in the third. Ali Castillo and Jake Cave began the frame with singles and Ben Gamel walked to fill them up. The righty buckled down to strike out Gary Sanchez, but it was Francisco Arcia’s sacrifice fly line drive to center that scored the first run for Trenton and made it 1-0.

Haley went six innings, earning a quality start, allowed the one run on six hits. He walked two and struck out four.

Besting him on the other side of the rubber was Jaren Long of the Thunder. The Sea Dogs had no answer for the righty as he pitched around three hits over the first three innings and kept Portland off the board.

Long had a stretch of eight in a row retired before Shannon Wilkerson broke it up with a two-out walk. Derrik Gibson followed with his second hit of the night and the Sea Dogs had two-on with two out, but failed to cash in.

Long (4-0) finished 6.2 shutout innings on the hill allowing five hits, walking one and striking out eight.

The righty’s night came to an end after Ryan Dent’s two-out double in the seventh, but Danny Burawa mopped up and struck out Wilkerson looking to end the inning.

Mark Montgomery was called upon to close it out in the ninth. Keury De La Cruz reached on a fielder’s choice and with two down, Dan Fiorito extended the game by booting a ball at third and putting Ryan Dent on first. Wilkerson was next and drove a double off the Maine Monster, scoring De La Cruz and cutting the Trenton lead in half. Montgomery buckled in and got Gibson to pop out to second to close out the game, earning his first save.

The second game of the series is tonight at 7 p.m. Wilfredo Boscan pitches for Portland against Trenton’s Manny Banuelos.