FALMOUTH, Mass. — After Falmouth’s 4-3 loss to Yarmouth-Dennis on Sunday, it entered its first off-day of the season. The Commodores were sitting in a precarious spot. They had just three wins and had lost three of their last four games.

But manager Jarrod Saltalamacchia had one message for his team entering Monday: don’t do anything baseball related. He said he knew everyone would still take the day seriously.

“They know what to do,” Saltalamacchia said Sunday. “Hopefully they relax. Don't touch baseball, don't swing, don't do anything. They'll come back Tuesday ready to go.”

Saltalamacchia’s strategy didn’t change much Tuesday. Falmouth dropped its third straight to Hyannis, 5-2. The Commodores entered averaging slightly more than four runs scored per game, and their offensive struggles persisted Tuesday. Despite knocking eight hits, they went a dreadful 2-for-16 with runners in scoring position, which Saltalamacchia said cost them the game.

“We've gotta do a better job with guys in scoring position,” Saltalamacchia said. “We're not doing our job. That's something that we control, in this game there's not much that you can control.”

Beating Hyannis was a hard task from the get-go. Despite losing top offensive threat Chris Rembert to the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team, the Harbor Hawks entered Tuesday leading the Cape Cod Baseball League in nearly every offensive category — OPS (.770), OBP (.361) and RBI (38), for instance.

And for the first time this season, a new face greeted Hyannis on the mound. After a four-man rotation through the first eight games of the season, Saltalamacchia gave Jack Berg (Arizona/transfer portal) the start Tuesday. But he couldn’t handle Hyannis’ lineup.

The Harbor Hawks (6-2-1) flexed their muscles early. After retiring leadoff hitter Ryan McKay, Berg allowed four straight hitters to reach base in the first. Saltalamacchia said he wished he and Falmouth’s other pitches attacked hitters more. Berg didn’t, and Hyannis made him pay. Ray Velazquez (Austin Peay) lined a two-run double to left-center to put Falmouth (3-6) on the back foot immediately.

And like its four runs in its last two games, Falmouth’s lineup couldn’t muster much in response. Tennessee’s Thomas Crabtree worked around a leadoff walk in the first, retiring the next three hitters in order. The second was no different, as he threw just 13 pitches in a 1-2-3 inning.

Meanwhile, Berg settled in on the mound. In his final inning, he picked off Jason Walk and fanned McKay to end the second.

“He had a rough first inning, but he was able to come about, give a clean second inning,” Saltalamacchia said of Berg. “It just seems what's going on for us right now is that one inning is beating us every time.”

Berg was replaced by Connor Linn (Northern Kentucky) in the third. Linn rebounded slightly from allowing four runs his last time out versus Brewster. He used offspeed pitches to punch out Hayden Federico, Jaxon Willits and Velazquez in the third.

But with the Harbor Hawks’ potent offense, it was only a matter of time before they broke through again. Linn looked to be cruising through the second, getting two quick outs, but three two-out singles allowed Hyannis to add on. McKay lined a single into left, scoring Charlie Bates from second to make it 3-0.

Despite McKay’s clutch hit, Falmouth was still in the game. But that’d only matter if the Commodores could produce offense. They certainly created traffic on the bases. Though when the lights shined the brightest, they seemed lifeless.

The 'Dores did knock out Crabtree in the third after Antonio Morales and Maika Niu reached base. But they couldn’t solve reliever Santi Garcia. He promptly fanned Adrian Lopez to strand the runners, then dealt with Justin Osterhouse reaching third in the fourth by inducing weak contact. The Commodores had another chance in the fifth with the bases loaded, but Kent Schmidt flied out to deep right to waste it again.

Those struggles came back to bite the Commodores. This time, it all but put the game out of reach. After Linn worked in and out of trouble to finish his day in the fifth, McKay struck again. With Walk on first and facing reliever Kaden Humphrey (Alabama), McKay drilled a double into the right-field gap, easily plating Walk to put Falmouth down by four.

Humphrey wasn’t any better in the seventh. He started by hitting Velazquez and walking Andrew Williamson. The Harbor Hawks took advantage, moving the score to 5-0 after Vahn Lackey drove in Velazquez with an RBI groundout.

All Hyannis needed to do was continue its pitching dominance. Though there were some bumps, it shut the door.

Morales reached base for the fourth time in the seventh off reliever Eddie Copper III before Niu and Lopez followed with walks. Then, Schmidt came through, lacing a two-run single to right to finally put Falmouth on the board.

But the 'Dores sputtered out after the offensive burst. They didn’t take advantage of two masterful innings from reliever Jakob Schulz (Vanderbilt). Falmouth couldn’t score with the bases loaded in the eighth and two runners on in the ninth, squashing any comeback hopes.

Ultimately, Falmouth’s off-day and Saltalamacchia’s message didn’t amount to anything. Falmouth’s offense rarely hit when it mattered most, and its pitching wasn’t any better, putting the Commodores in a serious hole nine games into the season.

“Everything's a premium, so every win counts,” Saltalamacchia said. “You can't lose a season and you can't win the season at the beginning, but we've gotta be able to put together some wins.”

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