TRENTON, N.J. — Early in the game, the Portland Sea Dogs squandered opportunities that eventually cost them Friday night.

In a 1-0 game against the Trenton Thunder, the Sea Dogs failed to tie through the first four innings, leaving six on base and nine overall.

They eventually fell to the Thunder 7-0 in the second game of a four-game set at Arm and Hammer Park. It was their second straight defeat and dropped them to 3-5 overall.

Despite the shutout, Portland managed nine hits.

“We had several opportunities,” said Manager Billy McMillon. “We just didn’t do the job. There aren’t too many games where you get nine hits and don’t score any runs. We haven’t been able to come up with the big innings with runners on base.”

The Sea Dogs got another strong pitching performance without a victory.

Starter Mike Augliera (0-2) was stellar through six innings, allowing four hits – two of them when Trenton scored in the second. He retired 11 of 13 batters from the third through the sixth.

But he ran into trouble in the seventh when Greg Bird hit a leadoff double to right. One out later, Eric Jagielo singled him home for a 2-0 lead and Augliera was lifted for Kyle Martin, who then gave up an RBI single to Mason Williams.

Augliera was charged with all three runs.

In the eighth, Trenton added a fourth run when Jagielo drew a four-pitch walk with the bases loaded off Martin, and Dante Bichette Jr., who had three hits and three RBI, followed with a two-run single that pushed it to 6-0. Martin was then replaced by Robby Scott, and the Thunder added three more runs.

“(Aguliera) threw the ball well and he mixed his pitches,” said McMillon. “He had a good six innings for us, but that big inning in the eighth killed us.”

Trenton took a 1-0 lead in the second when Jagielo lined a double to right and Bichette followed with a single up the middle.

Portland missed an opportunity to tie it when Blake Tekotte and Carlos Asuaje reached on consecutive singles, but Jantzen Witte flew to center, and Keury De La Cruz and David Chester hit consecutive popups.

In the fourth, Luis Martinez doubled to left for Portland and moved to third on a wild pitch. He tried to score on a one-hopper hit by Reed Gragnani to second baseman Jose Rosario, but was tagged out at the plate by Gary Sanchez.

Bichette led off the Trenton fifth with a double down the left-field line, but he was picked off when Augliera wheeled around and fired a throw to shortstop Marco Hernandez, who applied the tag.

Gragnani them dove to his left on a grounder and made a throw from his knees to retire Williams to end the inning.

NOTES: Witte had three hits and Martinez added a pair. … It was the second time Portland was shut out this season. It suffered a 9-0 defeat to Reading on April 11. … After the Thunder drew more than 6,400 in their home opener Thursday, Friday’s crowd was just over 3,800. De La Cruz, who hit an inside-the-park home run Thursday, became the seventh player in Sea Dogs history to achieve the feat. … Carlos Asuaje extended his hitting streak to five games and Hernandez ended a four-game hitting streak.