The Harwich Mariners dropped their third straight game on Saturday night, falling by a score of 6-3 to the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox after the Sox rallied in the top of the ninth to secure the road victory. The Mariners have now dropped to .500 on the season, sitting at 9-9.
Tied 2-2 heading into the ninth inning, Harwich manager Steve Englert elected to keep Sam Tookoian on the bump after putting up two scoreless innings in the seventh and eighth.
The 6-foot-5 right-hander struggled to start the top of the ninth, however, as he allowed a double and a single to start the inning, putting runners at first and third.
That's when Englert decided to make the move to the bullpen to bring in Justin Mitrovich, who had been stellar in his first three outings for the Mariners this season.
Things got off to a good start for Mitrovich, as he induced a popout to the first batter he faced, putting the inning-ending double play in effect when the next batter, pinch hitter Cameron Kim, came up to the plate. Mitrovich got the ground ball he was looking for, but the positioning of the Harwich infield kept shortstop Ryan Weingartner from being able to make a play on it.
The ground ball snuck through the infield and drove in the run that gave the Red Sox the lead, but now with runners on first and second, there was still a good chance to limit the damage and head into the bottom of the frame trailing by just one run.
That is, until Y-D catcher Charlie Saum decided that he had other plans.
Saum fell to 0-2 in the count, but on the third pitch, Mitrovich missed his spot in the zone and Saum did not allow his error to go unpunished, crushing the ball over the left field fence to advance the Y-D lead to 6-2.
Harwich left fielder Matt Scannell homered to start the bottom of the inning, but Red Sox reliever Aiven Cabral punched out the next three batters to squash any hope of a Mariner comeback.
The final score doesn't indicate how close of a game the Mariners and Red Sox played for eight innings. Until the ninth, it was 2-2 and neither team scored until the sixth inning.
Griffin Kirn impressed once again on the bump, going six innings and pitching a shutout for five. The lefty out of West Virginia commanded the zone and held Y-D's offense at bay for most of his outing.
Weingartner hit his third home run of the season in the eighth inning, which tied the game at 2 at the time.
The Mariners are back in action Sunday night at Chatham at 7 p.m. in a game that will decide which team will own sole possession of second place in the CCBL East Division, with both teams treading water at 9-9 right now.
