David Ortiz prepares to swing during his first at-bat in last night’s game between the Portland Sea Dogs and the Connecticut Defenders in Portland.

AP / Joel Page

PORTLAND, Maine — Unlike his three rehab games with the Pawtucket Red Sox, every fair ball that David Ortiz hit last night for the Double-A Portland Sea Dogs stayed in the park.

Even so, the sense of satisfaction he expressed was the same.

He’s eager and ready to return to the Boston Red Sox’ lineup.

Digging in against the Connecticut Defenders, Ortiz went 2-for-3 with a walk and an RBI, to help the Dogs to an 8-2 win in front of a packed house of 7,368 fans at Hadlock Field.

“I think right now,” he said after the game , “I’m very close to being 100 percent. Very close. Not too far away. I know myself really good, and I know when things are going bad, and when things are going good. Being out for that long, I never thought I would be the way I am.”

Ortiz walked in his first at-bat against Connecticut right-hander Joey Martinez, the former Boston College standout. Ortiz had fallen behind 1-2, then worked the walk after taking ball four on a checked swing, 84-mph slider.

He later scored on a two-run single by Josh Reddick, who had just been promoted from Single-A Lancaster.

Ortiz’s second trip came in the second inning, and was briefer.

With Portland leading, 5-1, and Mickey Hall on second, Ortiz took two balls, then laced an opposite-field single into left field, which moved Hall to third.

Martinez got Ortiz out, when with none out and one away in the fourth, he got him to pop up to first on a 77-mph curveball.

“The kid I was facing tonight,” he said, “threw me some pitches that are major-league pitches. He tried to hit the spot inside, and come back with his changeup. Me as a big-league, hitter, I’m like ‘wow’, that’s pretty impressive.”

Ortiz finished his night in productive fashion, when in the bottom of the sixth, he muscled an RBI single into shallow right field, shattering his bat in the process.

He left moments later for pinch-runner Lars Anderson, and acknowledged the crowd that rose to applaud him.

“It was good,” he said. “It was fun to be out there.”