RICHMOND, Va. — The Richmond Flying Squirrels ended a three-game losing streak Friday night with a 5-0 victory over the Portland Sea Dogs before a crowd of 7,205 at The Diamond.

The Sea Dogs had won two in a row on the road.

All of Richmond’s scoring came in the fourth off starter Chris Balcom-Miller, without the benefit of any particularly hard-hit balls.

The half-hour rally started with an infield single by Charlie Culbertson, when Portland first baseman Matt Spring couldn’t handle a low throw from third baseman Jon Hee.

After one out, Chris Dominguez looped an opposite-field double just fair down the right-field line to score Culbertson.

After Wes Hodges bounced to the pitcher, lefty-swinging Johnny Monell also went to the opposite field, chopping a double just over the third-base bag to score Dominguez.

Balcom-Miller’s nightmarish inning was not over. After Wendell Fairley singled up the middle, Skyler Stromsmoe got the final hit of the rally, an RBI blooper over second base that three fielders converged on too late.

Balcom-Miller was relieved after 99 pitches by Miguel Gonzalez, with one out in the sixth.

“I thought Chris had a good approach tonight. He was very efficient,” said Portland Manager Kevin Boles. “But give Richmond’s hitters credit, they did what they needed to do.”

Offensively, Portland’s chances were hampered by a 15-mph breeze that never diminished.

The Sea Dogs hit five balls — all caught — that might have been home runs or gone for extra-base hits on a calmer night.

“Yes, I thought some of those balls would go a lot farther than they did, but that’s the way it goes,” said Boles.

Three Portland drives in the fifth were all caught near the wall.

Leading off the seventh, Mitch Dening thought his drive to right field off a tiring Daryl Maday would land in the parking lot.

Instead, right fielder Francisco Peguero made a spectacular catch against the wall.

Dening kept running to third, convinced the ball was either over the fence or rolling free, and had to be told by the third-base umpire that he was out. He walked back to the dugout shaking his head in disbelief.

Portland’s best scoring opportunity came in the first after a single by Hee and a walk to Spring.

Again, the wind became the ally of the Richmond defense. Dening’s blistering shot to left-center was raced down and caught on the track by Juan Perez. 

NOTES: Former Sea Dog Chih-Hsien Chiang was named Eastern League player of the month for the second consecutive month after batting .430 with five home runs, 27 runs scored, 25 RBI and a .740 slugging percentage in July. Chiang, who was traded to Seattle at the July 31 trading deadline, led the Eastern League in batting average (.340), RBI (76), doubles (37), runs scored (68) and slugging percentage (.648) at the time of the trade. … The three-game series matching the northern and southern extremes of the Eastern League continues tonight at 6:35. Michael Lee will get the start for Portland, while lefty Clayton Tanner will start for Richmond. The series ends Sunday with Alex Wilson starting for Portland and Justin Fitzgerald for Richmond. … Richmond, San Francisco’s Double-A affiliate, improved to 38-21 at home and has allowed two or fewer runs in 44 of 112 games. … The Flying Squirrels are in a three-way battle for the Western Division lead with Bowie and Harrisburg. … Maday was 2-10 with a 4.94 ERA entering the game.