PORTLAND – If there are two red lights lit up next to the word ‘out’ on the scoreboard at Hadlock Field, it’s a safe bet Portland Sea Dogs’ baserunners are going to get the green light from manager Ron Johnson in the third base coaches’ box.

The Sea Dogs had runners easily cut down at the plate to end back-to-back innings during Saturday night’s 5-4 win over the Binghamton Mets at sold-out Hadlock Field.

Another runner, Kevin Haverbusch, managed to jar the ball loose from Binghamton catcher Justin Huber on a play where the ball beat him to the plate by a large margin.

After the game, Johnson had a question for Red Sox player development consultant Dick Beradino.

“Did I get enough guys thrown out at the plate?” Johnson asked jokingly.

But with his team hitting just .218 with runners in scoring position and two outs, Johnson said he would stay with the aggressive approach.

“I’m going to send guys with two outs as much as I can,” said Johnson, “unless it’s ridiculous, which a couple of them were. I heard the crowd going ‘What are you drunk?'”

Johnson;s arm was wind-milling again when Sean McGowan’s sinking line drive hit off the glove of Mets’ left fielder Frank Corr for a double, allowing Justin Headley to scamper home with what turned out to be the winning run in the bottom of the fifth inning.

A pair of relievers, Eric Glaser and Scott Aldred made the lead stand.

Glaser allowed just one hit over three innings.

Aldred closed it out in the ninth for his third save.

Tim Kester (8-8) picked up the win despite giving up 10 hits in five innings.

Binghamton jumped on top with a pair of runs in the top of the first inning.

Chris Basak and Ron Acuna (three hits) both singled to right field.

After a fly out, Rodney Nye doubled off of the left field wall to score Basak.

Mike Jacobs then lifted a fly ball to shallow left field that was caught by Haverbusch.

But when Haverbusch double-pumped, Acuna took of from third and scored to make it 2-0.

“He hesitated,” Johnson said of Haverbusch. “But he hasn’t been out there in six weeks (due to a pulled hamstring). He got caught with his pants down. If he throws the ball, he’s not running.”

Jeremy Owens belted his 17th home run of the season in the bottom of the third to cut the lead in half.

Trailing 3-1 in the bottom of the fourth, the Sea Dogs scored three times against Binghamton starter Joey Cole (8-6) to take the lead.

With one out, Haverbusch was hit by a pitch, moved to second on McGowan’s single and scored on Justin Sherrod’s single after he barreled into Huber at home plate.

One out later, Brian Loyd and Owens had run-scoring singles to put Portland on top 4-3.

The inning ended with Loyd thrown out at home on Carlos Leon’s base hit.

The Mets tied the game in the top of the fifth with some aggressive baserunning of their own.

Acuna singled, stole second, and scored all the way from second on Jacobs’ infield single that was fielded in the hole by shortstop Raul Nieves.

“That was heads-up baserunning,” said Johnson.

After McGowan’s double put the Sea Dogs ahead again, the 6-foot-6, 240-pound first baseman was waved home on Sherrod’s single to left.

McGowan wasn’t even halfway between third and home when Corr’s throw was caught by Huber.

“If there was one out, I don’t send either of those guys,” Johnson said in reference to McGowan and Loyd.. “But coming off a situation where we are struggling to score runs, I figured what the heck.”

Sea Dogs notes: Left-hander Jorge De La Rosa has been promoted to Triple-A Pawtucket. De La Rosa (6-3, 2.80 ERA) allowed just one earned run in his last 22 innings of work….Glaser returned after going to Pawtucket on Friday, only to be told he had to drive right back to Portland. Glaser was expendable with Paul Stewart being moved to the bullpen to make room for De La Rosa in the PawSox’s rotation….With the rosters expanding to 24 today, Charlie Zink will join the Sea Dogs from Class-A Sarasota and get the start in the series finale at 1 p.m. He’ll be opposed by Binghamton’s Phil Seibel (4-5, 3.32).

[email protected]