FALMOUTH, Mass. — Clean baseball. It’s something Falmouth hasn’t played as of late. Across its last two games, the Commodores have committed six errors, contributing to losses to Cotuit and Bourne.

Falmouth manager Jarrod Saltalamacchia knows it can’t win games with so many defensive blunders, especially as the regular season is nearing its end. Two Adrian Lopez overthrows to first directly led to its 6-5 defeat to the Braves on Thursday.

“We've got to do a better job of getting the outs that we're supposed to get,” Saltalamacchia said after the loss to the Braves. “Don't give them any free 90s. That changes the outcome of the game.”

The ‘Dores weren’t as sloppy on Friday versus Brewster. Still, the Whitecaps (17-14-1) downed Falmouth (13-18-1) 5-2, dropping the Commodores to last place in the West division, in danger of missing the postseason. The ‘Dores made two more errors and scored their two measly runs in the seventh inning, leading to their third straight defeat.

“With every loss, the pressure gets a little bit more on the hitters, the pitchers and defense,” Saltalamacchia said postgame. “You’ve got to stay loose. It's tough to play when you're tight and trying to do too much.”

Besides Falmouth’s defensive mistakes against Bourne, it faced issues at the dish, too. After plating five runs across the first five innings on Thursday, the ‘Dores failed to score in the final four frames, leading to their loss.

And it didn’t get any easier against Brewster. The Whitecaps had already defeated Falmouth in all three matchups this season and entered third in the formidable East division.

Brewster proved too tough to topple again. Against starter Spencer Seid, the ‘Dores couldn’t produce anything despite totaling seven baserunners. Seid retired Falmouth’s first five batters on 14 pitches, then worked around two-out knocks from Ryan Zuckerman and Bear Harrison to finish the second.

He faced more trouble in the third, when Justin Osterhouse and Antonio Morales led off with a single and walk, respectively. But Seid induced three straight outs, including Carl Schmidt and Maika Niu strikeouts, to keep the game scoreless.

“I think guys are feeling it at the plate, so they're trying to do too much,” Saltalamacchia said of the offensive struggles. “We’re just missing balls that we normally would be crushing.”

But Falmouth starter TJ Coats (Miami) matched him. Coats came off allowing three earned runs to blow a 3-0 lead against Hyannis a week prior. But Saltalamacchia said by working the ball up and down the zone effortlessly, he dominated versus Brewster.

Coats started hot by striking out six batters — including leadoff hitter Adam Magpoc twice — to neutralize a Schmidt error and post scoreless first three innings. And despite Schmidt’s misstep, Falmouth’s defense backed him up.

Coats kept up his facade to end his day in the fourth, despite taking a few hits. Two Whitecaps runners reached to open the frame, but Coats notched his seventh strikeout to escape trouble.

Unlike the two squads’ last contest, a 12-3 blowout by Brewster, Friday looked to be a pitcher’s duel.

But Falmouth’s staff changed that narrative quickly.

The Commodores made a pitching change, but it didn’t go smoothly. Laif Palmer (Cal Poly) immediately crumbled. Just two batters into the fifth, Magpoc slapped an RBI double into left center. The Whitecaps then made it 2-0 after Palmer balked him in from third.

Brewster, on the other hand, didn’t budge. That was all the run support it needed.

Falmouth knocked out Seid after Zuckerman reached on an error and Harrison roped a single to left in the fourth. But for the third straight inning, it left runners on base, as reliever Jack DeTienne produced two quick outs. The Xavier product followed with a clean fifth, maintaining Brewster’s two-run advantage.

Still, with its narrow deficit, Falmouth was within striking distance. That was until Palmer blew up again. After two one-out singles, Scott Newman smashed a two-run double into right center, doubling the Whitecaps’ lead.

Newman’s knock quelled any fight Falmouth had left. Brewster added another run in the frame via a Lopez error — his fourth in two games — to pull ahead 5-0.

All the Whitecaps had to do was close the game out. Despite a brief slip-up, they did just that.

Falmouth initially fought back with a two-run seventh. Off reliever Mitch Dye, Osterhouse scored on an error and Kent Schmidt roped an RBI double down the right field line.

Just like that, it was 5-2. But that was the only outburst the ‘Dores engineered.

Kyle Kipp and Landon O’Donnell combined to patch together Brewster’s win. Kipp fanned two in the eighth, then O’Donnell worked past a bases-loaded jam in the ninth to squash Falmouth’s brief rally and hand it the loss.

Though Falmouth’s defense wasn’t the difference Friday like it was a day before, its mistakes were magnified because of its nonexistent offense. Now, the Commodores are in a position where they need to respond immediately, or their season will be doomed.

“We've got to come out tomorrow,” Saltalamacchia said. “Tomorrow’s gonna come to us, no matter what we think about it. So we gotta be able to drive through it.”

Noah Nussbaum is the beat reporter for the Falmouth Commodores. You can read all of his articles on the Commodores here.