Y-D: 2, Cotuit: 8

UNFRIENDLY FIFTH INNING BURIES YD AS THEY DROP ANOTHER GAME

It was a beautiful day for baseball at Red Wilson Field as the Cotuit Kettleers (10-13-2) traveled to Yarmouth to face the struggling YD Red Sox (10-13-3). Cotuit sat at the bottom of the Western Division while YD was treading water in fourth place in the Eastern Division above the Chatham Anglers.

The Red Sox did not look sharp in Sunday’s 8-2 contest, especially during Cotuit’s 5-run fifth inning that blew the game open and created a deficit that the Red Sox could not erase. YD’s defense was lackadaisical and the bats were quiet yet again as the team collected a mere two runs on four hits to Cotuit’s eight runs on seven hits. A game that presented a great opportunity for the Red Sox to get back on track was squandered as YD lost another and brought their record in the past five games to 0-4-1. YD has not won since playing Falmouth on July 2^nd.

New face Jack Armstrong from Vanderbilt got his second start of the season for the Red Sox. Armstrong looked solid through the first couple innings before allowing a two-run home run to Kettleers star Victor Roache, his fifth of the year, in the top of the third inning. After regaining his composure to escape that inning and fly through the fourth, the fifth inning created huge problems for the Red Sox as a team. Armstrong threw 4 2/3 innings allowing seven runs (four earned) on five hits while striking out three and walking two.

The bulk of Armstrong’s trouble came in the top of the fifth inning in which the Kettleers brought ten men to the plate and scored five runs even though they only managed three hits in the entire inning. The mayhem began with a leadoff single by Cotuit second baseman Micah Johnson. Cotuit was able to load the bases with no outs after a bunt single by Kyle Wren and an error by Matt Wessinger at second base allowed Alex Yarbrough to reach. The Kettleers picked up some easy RBIs as Roache was hit by the first pitch in his at-bat to allow the third Cotuit run to score, and the next batter Torsten Boss walked to bring around another run.

Armstrong recorded a strike out for the first out of the inning, but a wild pitch to the next batter allowed the third run of the inning to score and Michael Yastrzemski hit a sacrifice fly to bring in the sixth Cotuit run. Next batter Ryon Healy blooped a double to shallow right field to drive in the fifth and final run of the inning and boost the Kettleers lead to 7-0 through five innings.

After a costly half inning, YD sought to begin chip away at the Cotuit lead. The Red Sox scored the first of their two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning when James Ramsey, who had been in a 1-for-13 slump over the past few games, hit his third home run of the year, a line drive over the center field fence.

The second YD run came in the bottom of the sixth after a Derrick Chung single and sacrifice bunt by Chris Taylor placed Chung on second base. Cody Keefer was able to reach on an error by the Cotuit first baseman and keep the inning alive for Stephen Piscotty, who continued to impress by slapping a double to right field and drive in the second and final Red Sox run of the game.

One upside of the game was relief man Joe Rogers’ impressive appearance. Rogers entered the game with a high 7.88 ERA but came in to pitch two innings of relief striking out five batters and allowing no hits.

Of the last four losses YD has picked up, this game against Cotuit may have been the most difficult. It is not time to panic yet as the Red Sox still have 18 games to play, however the team is putting themselves in a tough spot to make a significant run in the playoffs. As long as the Red Sox can stay ahead of the lowly Anglers, a playoff run is imminent. Let’s just hope the team can start winning some games first and bring back the success we saw at the beginning of the year.

The YD Red Sox play the Orleans Firebirds at home on Monday.