There was no walk-off victory Friday for the Portland Sea Dogs.

This one was more of a run-away-and-hide.

Sea Dogs pitcher Mike McCarthy turned in a solid outing Friday night against the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, allowing just one run in five innings as Portland rolled to a 10-5 victory. Whitney Hayward/Staff Photographer

On an evening that included crowd-clearing flashes of lightning and crackles of thunder, the Sea Dogs jumped to an early double-digit lead, banged out a season-high 21 hits and beat the New Hampshire Fisher Cats 10-5 at Hadlock Field.

Although still occupying the cellar in the Eastern League’s Eastern Division, the Sea Dogs have won five of six, with their three previous home victories coming in their final turn at-bat.

This time, they were most productive in their second turn, sending nine to the plate in a five-run inning that included RBI doubles by David Chester and Manuel Margot and singles by Henry Ramos, Tzu-Wei Lin, Oscar Tejeda and Carlos Asuaje.

Tejeda wound up with four of Portland’s 21 hits. Chester, Lin (the hero of Thursday night’s improbable 4-3 comeback) and Tim Roberson each had three hits.

“Our record (37-63 through 100 games) might not show it,” Roberson said, “but we’ve got good players in this locker room and they can swing the bat.”

By the fourth inning, every batter in Portland’s lineup had at least one hit and the Sea Dogs led 10-0. New Hampshire starter John Anderson (5-5) yielded 14 hits before departing after giving up a walk and three hits to open the bottom of the fourth. He earned-run average rose from 4.09 to 4.85.

Meanwhile, Sea Dogs starter Mike McCarthy (6-4, 3.56) nibbled his way to another quality start, sprinkling five hits through five innings with three walks and two whiffs. He had help from some impressive defense, most notably left fielder Aneury Tavarez, who threw out a runner trying to stretch a single high off the wall single in the first inning and avoided a collision in the gap with center fielder Manuel Margot while making a leaping catch in the fifth.

“I jumped and he slid,” said Tavarez.

Second baseman Carlos Asuaje also chased down two fly balls in right field, one of them near the picnic seats.

“We’ve played 10 times better defense over the last month,” McCarthy said. “That allows you to be more aggressive as a pitcher, knowing that your teammates are there to pick you up.”

McCarthy, whose fastball topped out at 89 mph, was making his second straight start against New Hampshire. On Sunday in Manchester, the Fisher Cats didn’t have a baserunner against him until the sixth.

“He pitches to his strengths,” said Roberson, the catcher. “He mixes it well and throws a bunch of different pitches in different counts. And he can throw all of them for strikes.”

The Sea Dogs led 10-0 through four innings, but New Hampshire cut the deficit in half by the sixth. Jack Murphy launched a three-run homer into the pavilion seats in right after reliever Simon Mercedes walked the first two batters he faced. He retired only one of six batters before giving way to Kyle Martin.

Martin stopped the bleeding and John Cornely mopped up with two hitless innings.

The series resumes Saturday night at Hadlock.

NOTES: Seventeen replica Sea Dogs jerseys hang from the wall near the sky boxes at Hadlock Field to represent players currently in the majors who once played for Portland. None had a rougher Thursday night than the No. 22 belonging to Craig Breslow. An early foul ball cracked the jersey’s midsection (think ribs), and a later foul cracked the right shoulder (labrum?).

The real Mr. Breslow didn’t have such great luck himself, serving up the game-ending home run in Houston to Jose Altuve in a 5-4 Red Sox loss.

Sea Dogs radio announcer Mike Antonellis returned to the team Friday after spending eight games with Triple-A Pawtucket on a road trip to Norfolk, Virginia, and Durham, North Carolina. Antonellis was filling in for PawSox announcer Josh Maurer, who in turn was filling in for Don Orsillo as play-by-play broadcaster on Red Sox games televised by NESN.

During Orsillo’s time away – mandated by the network for its announcers; color commentator Jerry Remy will take one later this season – the Sox went 0-7. And what did Antonellis miss? Three walk-off victories at Hadlock.

Fans trying to keep score at Hadlock had a rough time Friday night, as New Hampshire not only changed its batting order (swapping K.C. Hobson and Ryan Schmipf) but further confused matters when Schimpf, just down from Triple-A Buffalo, requested his old number 3, which had been worn by second baseman Christian Lopes. The roster listed Schimpf as wearing No. 17.

Paid attendance was announced as 5,296.

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