NEW BRITAIN, Conn. — The evening was moving along in satisfying fashion Tuesday for the Portland Sea Dogs.

Billy Buckner had the New Britain Rock Cats baffled. The Portland hitters had their way with New Britain starter Logan Darnell.

The Sea Dogs had a 6-1 lead with two outs and the bases empty in the seventh. Moments later, the game was tied.

Then, in the ninth, Nathan Hanson ripped a double into the right-field gap, scoring Chris Herrmann from second to give the Rock Cats a 7-6 walk-off win over the Sea Dogs before 2,466 rain-soaked fans.

Herrmann began the ninth against Will Latimer (1-2, 10.13) with a single, prompting Portland Manager Kevin Boles to bring on Josh Fields.

Evan Bigley sacrificed. After an intentional walk to Chris Colabello, Deibinson Romero fouled out. Hanson then worked the count to 3 and 1, and won it.

Deolis Guerra (2-0, 0.71) struck out five in two scoreless innings. The Sea Dogs (5-15, 2-11 on the road) managed two singles over six innings off three New Britain relievers.

“It’s a credit to their bullpen,” Boles said. “(Lester) Oliveros, (Brett) Jacobson and Guerra are all solid pitchers with quality stuff, and you have to respect them for stopping our offensive momentum.”

The comeback neutralized a quality performance by Buckner, who allowed three hits in six innings, walked one and struck out 11. The only run was a homer by Herrmann in the first inning.

“He attacked the zone and utilized a real good mix,” Boles said. “I thought he was very efficient in his approach.”

The Sea Dogs came out swinging.

Jeremy Hazelbaker rapped a single to right — he’s hit in eight straight games — took third on a single by Derrik Gibson and scored on a double-play grounder.

Oscar Tejeda (3 for 4, 3 RBI) then came up with a gap double to left-center, scoring Reynaldo Rodriguez.

Ronald Bermudez led off the second with his first homer of the year and three more came across in the third. Rodriguez drew a leadoff walk and trotted home on Tejeda’s first homer of the season. With two down, Darnell walked Matt Spring and Ryan Dent, the eighth and ninth hitters. Hazelbaker made him pay with an RBI single to right.

“I’m real happy with how our offense competed,” Boles said. “We had an aggressive approach early on and we were able to get into their bullpen early.”

Jeremy Kehrt replaced Buckner in the seventh and retired the first two hitters when the Rock Cats (13-6) rallied.

Pedro Florimon walked. Danny Lehmann and James Beresford singled to load the bases. Aaron Hicks singled to right, scoring one. Herrmann walked to force in a run and Bigley drove in another with an infield hit.

Colabello drilled a two-run single – the seventh straight Rock Cat to reach safely – and the comeback was complete. Latimer replaced Kehrt and escaped further damage when Tejeda caught Romero’s drive on the warning track.

“Our bullpen struggled,” Boles said. “There were some infield hits but it seems like we kept the ball up in the zone later in the game.