TRENTON, N.J. — The Portland Sea Dogs picked up their first victory of the season Tuesday night, ending a franchise-worst start with a 7-1 victory against the Trenton Thunder at cold, windy Waterfront Park.

Chris Balcom-Miller had the first quality start of the season for the Sea Dogs (1-5), allowing one run on three hits over six innings, striking out three and walking three.

“He did a nice job pitching down in the zone,” Manager Kevin Boles said. “He induced a lot of ground-ball contact and we were able to protect the baseball behind him.”

Said Balcom-Miller, “I just tuned the zone and let (the sinker) do its work. I had a really good defense tonight. There were a lot of ground balls and they took care of it well. I was just throwing a lot of strikes, letting them hit the ball and not trying to do too much.”

Featuring an outstanding sinker, Balcom-Miller faced the minimum three batters in five innings. In 11 innings this season, he’s allowed two runs on six hits.

“We like his stuff,” Boles said. “He’s a guy who commands the zone. He has interesting offspeed, utilizes a mix (of pitches) and holds runners well. He’s an aggressive type pitcher and we’ve liked what we’ve seen.”

Portland led 2-1 until the eighth, when pitching and defense let the Thunder down.

Portland added a run in the eighth when Trenton reliever Preston Clairborne fielded Jeremy Hazelbaker’s bunt and threw it past third baseman Addison Maruszak while trying to cut down the lead runner.

The error allowed Reynaldo Rodriguez, who had reached on Maruszak’s errant throw to first, to score to make it 3-1.

The Sea Dogs added another on Peter Hissey’s single to left that drove in Dan Butler, and it was 5-1 when Juan Carlos Linares drew a bases-loaded walk that scored Hazelbaker.

The Sea Dogs were gifted two more runs in the inning when Hissey scored on Kolbrin Vitek’s grounder that should have been an inning-ending double play, but instead resulted in a fielder’s choice and error when second baseman Ronnier Mustelier threw wildly to first on the relay from short.

All totaled, five runs scored on one hit and three errors in the inning. All five runs were unearned.

“We were able to take advantage of some offensive situations later in the game,” Boles said. “Our guys stayed aggressive and maintained a real quality approach.”

The result not only gave the Sea Dogs their first win, but allowed the stereo to be cranked in the clubhouse, which is customary following a victory.

“It’s almost like someone has died every night,” Balcom-Miller said.

“We finally get a win and turn (the stereo) up a little bit.”