PORTLAND — The deeper he went into his game-changing eighth inning at bat, the fewer pitches Adam Duvall liked.

Richmond’s third baseman found the eighth one suitable, though, and sent it into orbit over I-295.

Duvall fouled off the first five pitches he saw from Portland reliever Rafael Perez, passed on two balls out of the strike zone, then launched the 2-2 pitch deep over the Maine Monster in left to put Richmond in front, 4-3.

Jarrett Parker followed with a solo homer to right for insurance and the Flying Squirrels handed the Portland Sea Dogs their third loss in a row, 5-3, before 6,346 fans at Hadlock Field Wednesday night.

“I’m just trying to get something over the plate to hit,” Duvall said. “The first couple of pitches I swung at, he gave me good pitches to hit. He had some movement on his ball tonight, so I was just fortunate enough to take the two balls which got me back into a hitting count.”

Portland fell to 56-60 on the season to remain three games behind Trenton for the second and final Eastern Division playoff spot in the Eastern League.

Duvall gave Richmond , the (57-59) San Francisco Giants’ affiliate, its first lead after Portland’s Garin Cecchini broke a 2-2 tie in the bottom of the eighth. Cecchini belted an opposite field double deep into the left field corner off reliever Josh Osich that scored Shannon Wilkerson all the way from first.

“That was against a lefty, a guy with a power arm,” Portland manager Kevin Boles said. “I thought (Cecchini) did a real nice job staying in there. (Osich) has got quality stuff and to be able to take that to left field was pretty impressive.”

Richmond starter Chris Gloor survived a 32-pitch first-inning and kept the Sea Dogs from pulling away early by pounding the strike zone (71 of 98 pitches for strikes). Derrik Gibson greeted him with a leadoff double and Cecchini singled to left to drive him in for a quick 1-0 lead. But Gloor wiggled his way out after loading the bases.

Another leadoff double, this by Wilkerson to start the third, led to the Sea Dogs’ second run, delivered by Michael Almanzar with a two-out single.

Richmond sliced the deficit in half in the fifth with a leadoff double of its own leading to Jesus Navarro’s RBI single off Portland starter Chris Hernandez with two outs.

Hernandez was making his first start of the season for Portland after being demoted from Triple-A Pawtucket, where he was 3-9 with a 5.72 ERA in 24 games, including 16 starts. The lefthander allowed four hits, a walk and one earned run while fanning four in 6.1 innings in his return to Hadlock.

“It was nice to get back on track and to feel like myself again and throw strikes and get quick outs,” said Hernandez, who was 4-8 with a 3.13 ERA in 18 starts with Portland last year.

“He was outstanding tonight,” Boles said. “He had a quality mix. He was aggressive. He committed to the strike zone and drew contact. That was a very nice start.”

Wednesday also marked the return of another southpaw, Franklin Morales, who was making his third Major League rehab assignment of the season with Portland recovering from a strained left pectoral.

Morales relieved Hernadez in the seventh with a runner on first, which he promptly picked off.

Morales (1 IP, 2 H, I ER, 1 K) found trouble again in the eighth after a leadoff double and bunt put runners at first and third with no one out. The veteran left after reaching his 20-pitch limit with a strikeout, but the Flying Squirrels tied it when Joe Panik lifted a sacrifice fly to right off Perez.

Perez allowed a leadoff walk to Mark Minicozzi to start the fateful ninth. Cody Hall set down the Sea Dogs 1-2-3 in the ninth for the save.

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