Lots of teams have sound effects they play to signal an in-game situation. Cotuit plays the classic “Have a hit” effect in clutch batting situations. Hyannis plays “That’s the Way (I Like it)” when they hit a home run. Yarmouth-Dennis plays “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” when they get walked or hit by a pitch.
Coming out of the All-Star Break, Cotuit was looking to enter the final stretch of the season with a victory to boost their playoff odds. Instead, the old hit by The Proclaimers played over and over in the back half of the game as 13 free passes cost the Kettleers the game in a 4-0 loss to league-leading Yarmouth-Dennis.
Both starting pitchers only put up zeroes on the scoreboard. A combination of Dimitri Angelakos (Georgia Tech) and Noah Franco (TCU) went 6.1 innings for the Red Sox and worked out of several good scoring opportunities. On the other side, Landen Doll (Marshall) was superb for Cotuit, allowing just one hit in his four innings of work. His sweeping breaking ball kept the Red Sox off balance, inducing weak contact.
“Landen’s a competitor. He starts at-bats with strikes and goes after guys,” Coach Rob Cooper said. “He was calm today, found his way and gave us a great start.”
While it was a pitcher’s duel, that does not mean Cotuit lacked scoring chances. In all, the Kettleers were 1-10 with runners in scoring position. Even worse, Cotuit had a runner in scoring position in each of the first six innings. Whether it be strikeouts in innings 3-5 or poor contact in the first, second and sixth, Y-D arms kept finding a way to get outs when the Kettleers added pressure.
“We had no trouble getting that first guy on a lot of the time,” Cooper said. “But you have to find ways to get him in and we didn’t do that today.”
The game did not stay tight forever, and it certainly did not wait for Cotuit to unlock its clutch gene. Free passes and wild pitches haunted the Kettleer bullpen in the back half of the game, similarly to how they did in the July 14 matchup with Bourne. While Doll gave up just two free passes in his four innings of work, the bullpen allowed more than that in each of the next two frames. Between the fifth and sixth innings the Red Sox had just one hit, but scored four runs.
Dylan Wood (Arizona State) walked the first three Red Sox he faced in the fifth inning, allowing Y-D to score the go-ahead run when Lucas Franco (TCU) grounded into a double play. The Red Sox got their second run when Wood spiked his second wild pitch of the inning past Will Plattner (Alabama).
The next inning was very similar. After another walk from Wood, Cotuit debutant Aidan Healy (Navy) struggled to locate the zone, giving up two free passes to open his outing. With the bases loaded, Y-D again scored on a double play to expand the lead to three before a wild pitch made it 4-0.
The Cotuit offense tried to battle, but they were flustered constantly by the Red Sox relievers. In all, the Kettleers struck out 13 times but did so nine times against the bullpen. As the Y-D lead expanded over the course of the game, the offensive chances for Cotuit got worse and worse.
In all, this was a rough game on most fronts for the Kettleers. An excellent pitching outing was blown by free passes in the later innings. The offense failed to generate runs despite having plenty of opportunities to do so. With each of the next three games coming against opponents with a better record than the Kettleers, they will have to clean their game up if they want to get wins.
While it was not the way the Kettleers wanted to come out of the All-Star Break, they will have a chance to get back in the win column when they host Chatham. First pitch at Lowell Park is slated for 4:30 p.m. EDT, and the projected starting pitcher for Cotuit is Tyler Brashear (Eckerd).
