ALTOONA, Pa. — The Portland Sea Dogs (46-77) scored three runs in the ninth inning and held on to beat the Altoona Curve (64-59), 9-8 Wednesday night at Peoples Natural Gas Field.

Portland clinched the Eastern League season-series from Altoona and seek its first road-series sweep on Thursday.

Carlos Asuaje and Keury De La Cruz each homered for their fourth hit of the game. Asuaje snapped a 6-6 tie in the ninth with a two-run homer off losing pitcher Jhondaniel Medina. De La Cruz blasted a solo-shot with two outs. Medina, who suffered the loss, yielded his first two homers of the season.

Altoona made the game interesting in its half of the ninth. Simon Mercedes loaded the bases with nobody out on a single, and back-toback four-pitch walks. Max Moroff lined a two-run single to bring the Curve within one. Kyle Martin entered the game and uncorked a wild pitch to put two in scoring position with nobody out. Martin retired the next three batters, including the final two on strikeouts to secure his fourth save of the year.

Both teams exchanged runs in the second inning. Portland took a 1-0 lead on a run-scoring single by Dustin Lawley, but Altoona tied the game on an RBI ground out by Barrett Barnes.

In the third, the Sea Dogs scored three off starter Matt Benedict. Henry Ramos cleared the bases with a threerun double.

Altoona took a 5-4 lead with a four-spot off starter Justin Haley. Moroff and Weiss added run-scoring hits, and Barnes gave the Curve the lead with a two-run single.

In the sixth, De La Cruz smacked a double down the right-field line, giving the Sea Dogs a 6-5 lead. Altoona tied the game in the seventh on a sacrifice fly by Jose Osuna.

The final meeting of the season series is tonight at 7 p.m.