The Double-A version of the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry opened its latest chapter Tuesday night at Hadlock Field.

Chalk one up for the Yankees. Their Eastern League affiliate, the Somerset Patriots, beat the Sea Dogs 3-1 before a crowd of 5,381 that included the Portland franchise’s 11 millionth fan.

Having already secured a playoff berth thanks to its first-half divisional championship, the Patriots struck a blow to Portland’s chances by holding the Dogs to three hits while fanning 13 batters.

“It happens,” said Sea Dogs Manager Chad Epperson. “We came off a good week last week where we were swinging the bats well and we were hoping it would carry over, knowing that this is a big series. But we’ll rebound.”

The Sea Dogs are in the midst of a two-week homestand, having won four of six against Richmond last week. They trail Binghamton by two games in the quest to face Somerset in a divisional playoff series.

Portland starter Hunter Dobbins (4-5) was the hard-luck loser. He scattered seven hits over six innings and struck out four, departing with a 2-1 score. He also walked two batters.

“You could definitely see when he was ahead of hitters the difference in results,” Epperson said. “When he fell behind hitters is when they were able to put some traffic on the bases. Even then, with the traffic that he had, he only allowed the two runs.”

Epperson called it a good developmental outing, keeping damage to a minimum by pitching well with runners on base.

Somerset took a 2-0 lead on its second time through the batting order. Old friend Jeisson Rosario (who played for the 2021 Sea Dogs) slapped a two-out single with the bases loaded in the fourth inning.

Rosario seems to like Hadlock. He has come through the cornfield as part of the annual Field of Dreams game. Last summer he hit for the cycle here for the first time in his career.

The Sea Dogs cut the lead in half an inning later on Nick Yorke’s RBI double, also with two out, after Corey Rosier had reached on an error and stole second base, neatly avoiding a tag after Patriots reliever Josh Maciejewski apparently picked Rosier off first base.

That was it for the Portland offense, however. The only other hits were when Chase Meidroth singled in the first and Blaze Jordan did likewise in the sixth. Neither advanced.

“We got the starter out of there in the fifth inning,” said Yorke, noting the departure of Somerset right-hander Yoendrys Gomez, who allowed only one hit and struck out six. “We were putting up good at-bats, making him throw a lot of pitches. So we got to the pen quick. We just didn’t come through with runners in scoring position.”

The Patriots made it 3-1 in the seventh when reliever Theo Denlinger was called for a balk with runners at second and third. Somerset second baseman Caleb Durbin’s second double of the game followed a leadoff walk to put runners in scoring position.

NOTES: The Sea Dogs welcomed the 11 millionth fan in franchise history to Hadlock Field on Tuesday night. William Cashman, 7, of Freeport came through the turnstiles just ahead of his mom and dad, Emily and Andy. Their son is “a huge baseball fan,” according to Andy Cashman, and wore a blue Red Sox T-shirt with Masataka Yoshida’s name on the back.

William said his favorite Red Sox players are Yoshida and Rafael Devers. His favorite Sea Dog is second baseman Nick Yorke, because “one of the games I was here with my grandparents, he hit a home run.”

The Sea Dogs bestowed a basket of gifts worth more than $1,100 on William, who also threw out a ceremonial first pitch and received a No. 11 team jersey with “MILLION” across the shoulders.

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