AKRON, Ohio — Poor pitching continues to plague the Portland Sea Dogs.

The Akron Aeros were the latest team to find that out Saturday night, scoring six runs in the seventh inning en route to a 9-4 victory before 3,196 at Canal Park.

Sea Dogs reliever Caleb Clay allowed the six runs in the seventh, which helped the Aeros erase a 4-3 deficit. Juan Diaz capped the Aeros’ rally with a three-run homer that scored Beau Mills and Matt McBride.

Kyle Bellows started Akron’s rally with a double and scored on a Tim Fedroff single. Jason Donald followed with a single, then Mills delivered a two-run double.

Clay pitched four innings and took the loss for Portland, which has lost seven of its last 10.

“We had to piece it together. I thought Clay really battled,” said Sea Dogs Manager Kevin Boles. “I know he had that one tough inning in the seventh, but I was really impressed with how he battled. He was able to finish and that helped save our bullpen for tomorrow.”

Sea Dogs starter Stolmy Pimentel pitched two innings, allowing one earned run and three hits. Pimentel worked just 1 1/3 innings in each of his previous two starts, allowing a combined 14 earned runs and 11 hits.

Miguel Gonzalez entered in relief of Pimentel and worked two innings, allowing two runs on two hits.

The Sea Dogs started the second inning with five consecutive hits, and scored four runs to take a 4-0 lead off Aeros starting pitcher T.J. McFarland.

Tim Federowicz opened the second with a single and Reynaldo Rodriguez smacked an RBI triple to right-center. Jorge Padron followed with an RBI single, and Oscar Tejeda and Vladimir Frias each hit singles. Padron scored when Drew Dominguez grounded out, and Alex Hassan batted in Frias with a single.

The Aeros cut into their deficit with a runs in the second, third and fourth. Chun Chen tripled in Diaz in the second, Fedroff tripled and scored on a Donald groundout in the third, and Diaz scored on a balk in the fourth.

Aeros relief pitcher Paolo Espino tossed five scoreless innings to get the win. Adam Miller and Bryan Price followed by each working an inning.

“Their bullpen was outstanding. They really did a solid job.,” said Boles. “We were able to chase their starter early on. I thought we had a real good approach (at bat) but this might be the best bullpen arms that we have seen so far this year.”