NEW BRITAIN, Conn. — Portland Sea Dogs right-hander Alex Wilson turned in a powerful performance Friday night against the New Britain Rock Cats.

But New Britain shortstop Steve Singleton spoiled the effort.

Wilson gave up just two hits in six innings, both to Singleton, and each resulted in runs to enable the Rock Cats to hand the Sea Dogs a 2-0 defeat behind the pitching of Bobby Lanigan before 7,298 at New Britain Stadium.

The Sea Dogs (11-21) have lost three straight games and 12 of their last 15. Only one team in Double-A — the Carolina Mudcats of the Southern League — has a worse record. The Rock Cats (20-13) have won three straight and five of their last six.

“We keep working and we stay positive,” Manager Kevin Boles said in reaction to the Sea Dogs’ slump. “We keep playing the game the right way with what we believe in and what we trust.

“We trust our guys. We have a lot of ability on this club. We’ve got a few major league ballplayers in the works here. We’re looking forward to watching them progress and seeing improvements.”

Wilson (4-2) was the personification of Boles’ positive slant. He zipped through the lineup in order the first time around, the last three on strikeouts.

“Wilson was tremendous,” Boles said. ‘He had a real nice fastball and kept it down in the zone. He showed a plus slider tonight and was able to finish with the slider.

“That’s probably the best we’ve seen him throw.”

Singleton, in his first game back from Triple-A Rochester, doubled to right to start the fourth. Two grounders to shortstop Vladimir Frias brought him around, with Joe Benson collecting the RBI with a hopper in the hole on a two-strike pitch.

Singleton turned on a 1-0 fastball with two outs and the bases empty in the sixth for his third Eastern League home run. He hit two homers in eight games during his first Triple-A assignment over the previous 10 days.

“He’s a good hitter,” Boles said. “He’s got strength to his pull field and he played a great shortstop tonight. He did a lot of good things. He was the player of the game.”

Wilson struck out seven and didn’t walk a batter, but he took a back seat to Lanigan (4-2), who pitched eight shutout innings and permitted the Sea Dogs just three base runners. Alex Hassan had a first-inning single, Jorge Padron’s single in the second was erased on a double play and Tim Federowicz lashed a one-out double in the fourth.

“(Lanigan) was able to pitch in reverse,” Boles said. “He was able to throw his off-speed from behind and pitch backwards. He was able to move the ball in and out and had a real good feel for his off-speed.”

Che-Hsuan Lin started the ninth with a single off left-handed reliever Jake Stevens, but Hassan bounced into a double play, Portland’s eighth in the first two games of the series.

Ryan Lavarnway walked to bring the tying run to the plate, but Federowicz flied to right to end the game.