The Portland Sea Dogs faced a 10-hour bus ride late Sunday afternoon to Altoona, Pennsylvania. The trip was delayed because their game at Hadlock Field lasted 12 innings.

Making the delay worse and the trip longer was a 4-2 loss to the Bowie Baysox before 5,594.

The Portland players shuffled out of the dugout after the game and the last emerging was Jake Romanski, who caught all 12 innings.

“I feel how I look,” Romanski said.

He looked beat.

The Sea Dogs dropped to 21-38 after again failing to come up with clutch plays. In the bottom of the 12th, for example, Jhon Nunez came up with the bases loaded and two outs. He battled in a 10-pitch at-bat – including one pitch that was drilled past third base. Plate umpire Dave Martinez hesitated a couple of seconds before signaling it was foul.

“About four inches (foul),” Manager Joe Oliver said, demonstrating with his thumb and forefinger inches apart.

Nunez eventually flied to left, ending the game.

The 12 innings taxed a Portland bullpen that already was starting a reliever, Daniel McGrath.

McGrath, 24, from Melbourne, Australia, is in his seventh year in the Red Sox organization and his second in Portland. With his left-handed, sidearm delivery, he brings an 87 mph fastball and a big-breaking curve – a reason left-handers are hitting only .197 against him.

McGrath, making his third spot start, lasted five shutout innings, allowing two hits and two walks, striking out five. Both walks and a single came in the fourth, but he struck out Ademar Rifaela to end the threat.

“He did a really good job,” Oliver said. “He got into some trouble and made a good pitch to get out of it. He gave us five solid innings on a day we needed it.”

Bowie had its own Australian left-hander, Alex Wells from Newcastle. He also pitched five shutout innings.

Wells pitched into the sixth and allowed a tough-luck run. With one out, Deiner Lopez of Portland hit a fly ball to right field that Yusniel Diaz lost in the sun, resulting in a double. With two outs, Lopez scored on Bobby Dalbec’s ground single to left.

That put Sea Dogs reliever Kevin Lenik in line for the win, but he allowed the tying run in the seventh on a hit batter, walk and two-out double by Preston Palmeiro, the son of Rafael Palmeiro.

The game stayed 1-1 when Portland reliever Jake Cosart pitched consecutive 1-2-3 innings.

In minor league extra-inning games, each half-inning begins with a runner on second. Portland reliever Matt Gorst (0-4) walked two batters (totaling 19 pitches) in the 10th to load the bases with two outs but escaped.

In the bottom of the 10th, Portland had runners on first and second with no outs. Romanski bunted but the ball popped up before landing. That froze Joey Curletta at second and he was thrown out at third.

“That ended up being a very big play,” Oliver said.

Nunez then grounded into a double play.

Bowie took a 2-1 lead in the 11th on Carlos Perez’s RBI single. Portland tied it with two outs on Jarren Duran’s RBI double down the left-field line, ending his 0-for-17 skid.

In the 12th, Gorst allowed two singles and a sacrifice fly, giving Bowie a 4-2 lead.

NOTES: Darwinzon Hernandez pitched one inning in a Saturday night for Portland and may be in line for a start Tuesday in Boston. … Shortstop C.J. Chatham remains on the injured list with a sore hamstring. Oliver said he could be activated by the end of the trip. … This is Portland’s longest trip of the season with three games apiece in Altoona, Akron and Erie. … During the trip, the Eastern League’s second half of the season will begin. This year, the league is following the other Double-A leagues and dividing the season into halves, with division winners in each half making the playoffs. The second half begins June 18. Hartford has a half-game lead over Trenton in the East and Harrisburg is up by seven games in the West.

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