It is safe to say that Hadlock Field fans have never seen such a feat from their Portland Sea Dogs.

The Sea Dogs set a franchise record for wins in a season with their 87th victory, a 5-1 decision over the Harrisburg Senators Saturday night.

Portland (87-53) still has two regular-season games to play, so it can extend its record, previously held by the 1995 Sea Dogs (86-56).

Winning 87 games in a 142-game Eastern League season is the equivalent of winning 99 games in the major leagues and its 162-game schedule.

Again, the Sea Dogs still have two games to go. And they are playing Harrisburg (52-88), the worst team in the league.

Harrisburg demonstrated some of its futility in the fifth inning, when Portland scored three runs without a hit, but with three errors by the Senators.

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Sean Coyle added an RBI double in the inning for a 5-0 lead. Coyle had homered earlier.

The production was plenty for right-handed starter Justin Haley (3-2), who turned in another dominating performance. Haley tied a career-high with nine strikeouts, holding the Senators to no runs, four hits and one walk.

Haley pounded the strike zone (102 pitches/71 strikes) and offset his 94 mph fastball with a knee-buckling curve, a slider and a change-up.

In his six Double-A starts since being promoted from Class A Salem, Haley has a 1.19 ERA. His next start could come Thursday, in Game 2 of the Eastern League Eastern Division playoffs at Binghamton.

Felipe Lopez (2-7) took the loss, allowing five runs (one earned) in 42/3 innings.

Robby Scott relieved Haley and allowed one run in the eighth (bumping his ERA to 1.99). Aaron Kurcz (1.97 ERA) pitched a scoreless ninth.

NOTES: The annual Field of Dreams game is at 1 p.m. Sunday (look for the corn stalks in center field). Only 325 tickets remain for the game … The announced paid attendance was 7,368, the 13th sellout of the season … Coyle’s 16th home run ties him with Mike Napoli on the Red Sox organizational leader board, behind David Ortiz (30), Travis Shaw (21) and Corey Brown (17) … Only two other franchises have won more than 87 games since 1994 – Akron (three times, including a 93-48 record in 2002) and Trenton (1999). That ’99 Trenton team (92-50) was a Red Sox affiliate at the time … Boston Celtics first-round draft pick Marcus Smart threw out the ceremonial first pitch.


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