ORONO – In what may have been his most dominating outing this season, Dennis “Oil Can” Boyd continued a string of vintage pitching performances and led the Bangor Blue Ox to their 12th victory in 13 games Sunday at Mahaney Diamond.

Bangor shut out the Rhode Island Tiger Sharks 4-0 behind Boyd’s masterful mound management and a successful return to duty by Tim Morrow.

Bangor moves to 12-2, first place in the Northeast League, while Rhode Island sinks to 4-8.

The Can was running on a full tank as he baffled the Sharks with an surprisingly effective fastball, his trademark slider, a nasty curve, and a variety of off-speed pitches that had Rhode Island batters losing hold of their bats or beating the dirt in frustration.

“I can’t afford to let guys sit back and wait on off-speed stuff,” said Boyd. “Now that my fastball is better, I’ve got to be more aggressive throwing the ball inside and opening up the outside part of the plate.”

Boyd pitched a three-hitter, struck out a season-high eight batters, and walked one while throwing 96 pitches – 68 for strikes – and improving his record to 6-0.

“I was getting a little stiff. I told the guys when we were up to go easy on the old man and make some outs so I could get back out there,” joked the 36-year-old Boyd, who has allowed only five walks in 69 innings this season.

Tim Morrow (2-for-3) led off the fourth inning with a double to the left field corner before back-to-back, one-out doubles by Garret Quaintance and Steve Puleo plated a pair of runs.

Morrow returned to the lineup with a rare start at first base and robbed R.I.’s David Perry of a hit on a lunging grab of his liner down the right side in the seventh.

“I’m glad to be back. My leg’s still bothering me a little so I’ll play first until I get back all the way,” said Morrow, who may not be moved from the position after playing it so well.

The Blue Ox added a run in the bottom of the fifth. After two quick outs, Bangor loaded the bases before R.I. starter Mike Milewski’s wild pitch allowed Lonnie Goldberg to score from third.

In the sixth, Bangor added another insurance run after leadoff walks to Quaintance and Puleo. After Quaintance was caught stealing, Puleo went to second on a fielding error and scored on a throwing error by Chris Fabiano.

The Sharks committed five errors in the game – three by shortstop Carlos Christopher.

Next up, the first-place Ox will host second-place Newburgh, N.Y., (7-4 before Sunday night’s game) for a big four-game series starting Monday night.

Game notes – Home plate umpire Glenn Guerreiro ejected Sharks right fielder Brian Church in the top of the fourth after Church was erased on the front end of a 5-4-3 double play.

Church was ousted while arguing with Guerriero from the dugout, prompting Rhode Island manager Mike Palermo to intervene.

Guerriero then ejected Palermo about a minute into the confrontation and Palermo exploded, going nose-to-nose with him for a few minutes before finally storming into the dugout.

The ejection capped a wild end-of-the-week series for Palermo.

Friday night, Palermo called on outfielder Bernie Hoyt – who replaced Church in right Sunday – to pitch in relief.

Hoyt, relying on a knuckleball, allowed two hits and a walk in a respectable pitching debut.

The Rhode Island dugout also had to put out a small fire after one of the players tried to set a cup on fire. The fire was quickly doused.

Saturday night, Palermo questioned whether Bangor DH Wes Shook’s bat was legal after Shook fouled out to third. Palermo was suspicious due to the black color of Shook’s bat, but the umpires declined to check it.

Also Saturday, Palermo could be seen throwing a chair and some bats in frustration during his team’s 7-1 loss.

Bangor 4, Tiger Sharks 0

(Sunday Afternoon)

Rhode Island (4-8) Bangor (12-2)

Name ab r h bi Name ab r h bi

Filipkowski,lf 4 0 0 0 Cox, lf 4 0 0 0

DeRosa, 2b 4 0 0 0 Goldberg, 2b 4 1 1 0

Church, rf 2 0 0 0 Cole, rf 3 0 1 0

Hoyt, rf 2 0 0 0 Morrow, 1b 4 1 2 0

Mannino, c 4 0 0 0 Shook, dh 4 0 0 0

Lombardi, cf 4 0 0 0 Quaintnce,3b 3 1 1 1

Perry, 1b 3 0 1 0 Puleo, c 3 1 1 1

Porzio, dh 3 0 2 0 Evans, ss 3 0 0 0

Fabiano, 3b 2 0 0 0 White, cf 3 0 0 0

Christophr,ss 2 0 0 0

D’Agostino,ss 1 0 0 0

Totals 31 0 3 0 Totals 31 4 6 2

Rhode Island 000 000 000 – 0

Bangor 000 211 00x – 4

E – Christopher 3, Fabiano, Milewski; Boyd, Evans 2B – Morrow, Quaintance, Puleo LOB – Rhode Island 5; Bangor 6 DP – Quaintance to Goldberg to Morrow SB – DeRosa, Fabiano; Goldberg

PITCHER IP H R ER BB SO

Rhode Island

Milewski (L,6-4) 5 6 3 3 1 4

Pasternack 2 0 1 0 2 0

West 1 0 0 0 0 0

Bangor

Boyd (W,6-0) 9 3 0 0 1 8

WP – Milewski TIME – 2:20 ATTENDANCE – 1,036