The Hyannis Harbor Hawks had a golden chance to get their first walk-off win of the season. Runners on first and second. The tying run in scoring position, the winning run on first. No one out. The middle of the lineup coming up.
Flyout, strikeout, walk, strikeout. Both runners were stranded. Game over.
Scenarios like this have played out too many times for the Harbor Hawks in what has been a tough month of July. It reared its ugly head again at home against the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox Tuesday night, with the Hawks losing 5-4.
Hyannis now sits in fourth place in the West Division with a 10-12-3 record, mere percentage points behind the Falmouth Commodores in third. The Hawks have lost four straight games, are 2-7-1 in their last 10, and are 2-8-2 in July.
The Hawks also lost the four-game season series to YD, going 1-3 against the Red Sox. All four games were decided by one run, which manager Mitch Karraker feels is a credit to the Hawks.
“[I] feel like we have done a really good job against them,” said Karraker. “Just, for whatever reason, we have come out on the wrong end too many times. I thought tonight was a good test for our guys. [I] thought they handled it well, just came up a little short.”
The Hawks gave up the first run, as Armando Briseno singled down the left field line on a ground ball that slipped past Myles Davis with two outs, giving Y-D the 1-0 lead. Hyannis answered quickly in the bottom of the first thanks to Gabe Camacho, who doubled to right field to bring in Ryan McKay and tie the game 1-1.
Briseno gave Y-D the lead in the top of the third inning with a two out double, scoring Chris Hacopian from first base as Devin Mitchell was charged with a throwing error in right field. Hyannis starter Thomas Crabtree then got Will Gasparino to pop up, but the ball fell between Crabtree and Davis and landed on the third base side of the pitcher’s mound, scoring Briseno and giving Y-D a two-run advantage.
The Hawks got right back up and re-tied the game in the bottom of the third on an RBI single by Davis and a double play by Charlie Bates that featured a bad throw to first base, allowing Jayce Dobie to score before Bates, who thought the ball went out of play, was tagged out at first to end the inning.
Y-D took the 4-3 lead in the 7th on a Gasparino sacrifice fly that scored Hacopian and added another in the top of the 9th on a double by Briseno.
Jake Schaffner led off the bottom of the 9th for the Hawks with a triple to left field, scoring on a single by McKay to cut the deficit to one. The Hawks offense then went down after that, and what was looking to be the first walk-off win of the season ended just short.
Karraker felt that communication errors in the field were to blame for the Y-D run in the first and one run in the third rather than defensive mistakes.
“We think Myles could have gotten to the ball down the line, just a tough first step on that, just sneaked by him,” said Karraker. “Pop-up in the infield, that is a ball we think should be caught. It’s a communication thing, we were playing way back. Crabtree maybe had an opportunity to catch that thing, so that is just more of a communication thing than a defensive mistake thing.”
Crabtree allowed three runs in four innings pitched for the Hawks, but only one was an earned run. Sam Garewal pitched a scoreless fifth in his Hyannis debut before Tyler August allowed one run in two innings pitched, as did Ryan Speshyock.
The offense still had a productive day at the plate, getting 12 hits and working nine walks against Y-D pitching. The biggest issue has been driving those runners in, with the Hawks leaving two runners on base four times, leaving 12 runners stranded in total.
The biggest bright spot at the plate for the Hawks was Dobie, who was starting as the designated hitter. The University of Nevada product went a perfect 4-for-4 at the plate, hitting four singles and getting one walk. He was the only Hawk who didn’t get out all night.
Dobie credited a simple approach to his strong first impression on the Cape League.
“Stick to my approach, be simple,” said Dobie. “Try to think up the middle, good things are going to happen. If you are a bit late, you can still poke it to right [field]. If you are early, pull it down the line. Not trying to do too much there.”
Despite the strong day for Dobie in his debut, the Hawks were unable to get over the hump with more runners left on base and more issues on defense. They’ll look to turn the page Wednesday night with a road tilt against the Bourne Braves, the only team Hyannis is ahead of in the West Division standings.
Karraker kept it simple when asked what the Hawks need to do in order to snap their losing streak.
“Hopefully we can take some of the momentum we had in the ninth and take that into the offensive side,” said Karraker. “[We] need to play good defense, need to get a good start on the mound, and go from there.”
The Hawks are 1-1 against Bourne this season, beating them 8-5 in Bourne June 19 before losing 12-6 at home July 8. Max Stammel will get the start for Hyannis, opposed by Bourne’s Nate Whysong.
