ORLEANS, Mass. — The last time Falmouth was stuck on a four-game losing streak, the stakes were much less dire. The Commodores still had 14 games to right the ship. They did briefly, beating Orleans, 3-1.

But that win didn’t turn into anything. On its second four-game skid of the season, which bumped it to nine losses in 11 games, Falmouth was close to tipping.

The ‘Dores again faced Orleans to try to get back on track. They’d already beaten the Firebirds three times by a combined score of 24-9 and desperately needed to make it a fourth.

“ I think this is where we find out who we are,” Falmouth manager Jarrod Saltalamacchia said pregame. “If I start to panic, then they're gonna panic. So there's no panic going on. It's just go out there and play the game.”

Contrary to their last three matchups, Orleans was in full control on Sunday. The Firebirds (17-15-2) handily defeated Falmouth (13-20-1), 8-1, marking the Commodores’ season-high fifth straight loss. It also put them one step closer to missing the playoffs, as they sit three points behind fourth-place Cotuit with six games left.

Things hadn’t been pretty on Falmouth’s recent slide, either. In its last two games, it mustered just two runs, both of which were unearned. Most recently, it was blanked by Wareham, 3-0, knocking just three hits and two walks in the game.

Despite the loss, Saltalamacchia said he was pleased with the Commodores’ hard contact. It was just the three-run third inning that doomed them.

But the hard-hit balls didn’t translate to anything on Sunday. Saltalamacchia did try to change things up by sitting Maika Niu, Kent Schmidt and Adrian Lopez after their recent struggles. The substitutions made no difference. Like Wareham’s Josh Butler on Saturday, Orleans’ Isaiah Magdaleno stifled them.

Falmouth put runners on in each of the first three innings. But it made nothing of the chances.

Despite a Bear Harrison walk, Magdaleno fanned Ryan Zuckerman to end a quick first before working past a Cayden Brumbaugh one-out double in the second. Falmouth had its best chance in the third with runners on the corners, but a failed double steal crushed all its momentum.

Although its offensive struggles have been glaring, Saltalamacchia emphasized pregame he doesn’t want anything to change. He believes the unit can break out its previous starpower.

“The offense has carried us all year long. I don't want those guys to do anything differently than what they've been doing,” Saltalamacchia said. “I just want them to focus on the pitch, not the next at-bat.”

The ‘Dores also had a mismatch on the mound Sunday. Orleans entered with the worst OPS (.655) and average (.222) in the league, providing a chance for Falmouth to rebound.

That discrepancy wasn’t apparent at all on Sunday. The Firebirds knocked Commodores starter Mac Stiffler around for three runs in 3 ⅔ innings and knocked seven hits and six walks in the game.

Initially though, Stiffler handed Falmouth early life with a scoreless first two innings. The West Virginia product faced more trouble in the second after the Firebirds loaded the bases with two outs, but he got Javar Williams to fly out.

His luck ran out from there. Following two quick outs in the third, Orleans cleanup hitter Elijah Ickes demolished a two-run dinger over the left field scoreboard to open the scoring.

The blast shook Stiffler. He walked three in the fourth, the last of which plated a run to make it 3-0, before he was pulled for Rhode Island’s Jake Cullen.

Falmouth’s offense needed to act fast if it wanted any chance of winning. It did briefly its next time up, when Carl Schmidt (California) blooped an RBI single to left to plate Edward Yamin.

But that spark was immediately snuffed. Orleans exploded for three runs in the bottom half, all but putting the game away. Dawson Bryce smashed an RBI double down the right field line, then Williams ripped a two-run triple over Brumbaugh’s head in right, pushing the score to 6-1.

Though Falmouth had 12 more outs to work with, it hadn’t even totaled six runs since July 11 in a 7-6 victory over Cotuit. The ‘Dores’ recent woes continued through the final four frames.

Zuckerman opened with a walk and advanced to second in the sixth, but three straight outs stranded him on base. The same occurred in the seventh, when two quick outs followed a Chris Newstrom hit-by-pitch.

After Orleans plated two more runs in the seventh, Kai Leckszas and Mason Koch combined to get the final six outs, including getting pinch-hitter Niu to pop out in the eighth.

Playing Orleans was the remedy Falmouth needed last time it was on a schneid. But the Firebirds were anything but that on Sunday. Instead, the Commodores hit a new low with a season-high fifth straight loss, pushing them even further out of the playoff picture.

“They’ve played their whole lives. They're good ball players, and they'll snap out of it. It's just a matter of time,” Saltalamacchia said.

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