With his team down three and the tying run at the plate in the ninth, designated hitter Caden Miller fought valiantly – but after fouling off four straight strikes, he grounded out to second base, and the Hyannis Harbor Hawks, now 10-13 on the season, dropped the contest to the league-worst 6-16 Wareham Gatemen Saturday night at Clem Spillane Field.

It was a battle between a struggling Hyannis pitching staff – the Harbor Hawks have a league-high ERA of 5.29 – and a light-hitting Gatemen team, which has struggled to a league-low .616 OPS. Wareham executed offensively, and the Harbor Hawks fell behind early and couldn’t recover.

“We were patient at times, aggressive when we needed to be, so it kind of worked out,” Wareham manager Ryan Smyth said.

The Gatemen notched 10 hits and took four bases on balls from the Hyannis pitchers.

“Tonight was a really well-rounded game where guys had some really good team at-bats, some long at-bats when we needed them,” Smyth said. “Really looked like we tried to just pass the torch tonight.”

Wareham opened the scoring with one out in the first, as left fielder and leadoff man RJ Hamilton manufactured a run all by himself. Hamilton hit a leadoff single, stole second and third, and came in to score on a wild pitch.

“He’s electric,” Smyth said. “He’s the type of guy where if he’s on base, who knows, man? Anything can happen, right? [The pitcher’s] full attention isn’t necessarily on the hitter when he’s on base, and that’s what I love about it.”

Hamilton struck again with a bases-loaded RBI single to left field in the second, bringing the score to 2-0. The Gatemen tore into Hyannis starter Ryan Bosch a third time in the next frame with a bases-loaded two-RBI double from first baseman Tony Lira.

Hyannis manager Mitch Karraker admitted Bosch “didn’t have his best stuff tonight,” and the starter’s offspeed pitches weren’t as effective as usual. Six runs, four earned, went on Bosch’s line of 2.1 innings.

“But he did a nice job of trying to minimize as best he could,” Karraker said. “Bullpen, same thing.”

The Harbor Hawks’ relief pitching was strong. Liam Kinneen, the first man out of the bullpen, allowed two inherited runners to score with poor batted-ball luck, but ultimately turned in 3.2 innings of three-hit, two-strikeout ball.

“A broken bat, a single, a couple things that just dropped in front of guys, and after that, he settled in,” Karraker said. “He’s the reason we had a chance there at the end.”

The Hyannis bullpen allowed only one more run through the rest of the game, but the Harbor Hawks’ offense could not catch up.

Bosch’s counterpart, Wareham starter Wade Walton, was dominant for the first four innings – despite the three earned runs on his line, he retired 12 of the first 14 men he faced, giving up only three hits and striking out four in 4.2 innings.

“That was a great start for him,” Smyth said. “He was just running out of gas a little bit right at the end, but you know what? He threw a lot this year at school. The fact that we had him out here and he gave us another good one has been fantastic. I’m really happy that we got him.”

The Harbor Hawks turned once again to the smallball strategy that won them the previous night’s game in Harwich. Hyannis finally got to Walton in the fifth, with two leadoff men reaching and second baseman Taylor Kirk bunting them to second and third. The Harbor Hawks scored two on a sacrifice fly from center fielder Liam Barrett and a single from third baseman Matt Ineich before Smyth turned to his bullpen.

“Hitting’s hard, and we’re struggling with that right now,” Karraker said. “It’s funny how the game works out, where you do little stuff like that, things kind of open up for you.”

Hyannis left fielder Jax Gimenez made it a three-run ballgame with an RBI single off Wareham reliever Jaden Barfield. Karraker said his intention was to mount a comeback in increments, playing for one run at a time, but was impressed that his offense generated a three-spot.

“That three-run inning was big,” Karraker said. “We had a chance to tack on a few more. A couple clutch hits, and we’re probably right in that thing.”

After Gimenez stole second, Miller attempted to bunt for a hit with two outs and was thrown out by the Wareham pitcher. Though Miller couldn’t execute his intention, Karraker approved of the play.

“He felt like he could get it by that guy and extend the inning a little bit, which was great,” Karraker said. “Guy made a heck of a play on the bunt. I thought Caden laid down something really good, and he’s just trying to spark our offense, which is great.”

The Harbor Hawks’ next comeback attempts were thwarted. They loaded the bases in the top of the seventh and scored as the Gatemen walked in a run, but left the sacks full. A leadoff walk in the eighth was erased by a double play, and the ninth ended with the tying run at the plate.

Karraker said the inconsistent Harbor Hawks, who have not won consecutive games since July 1, need to minimize the pitching “freebies” – free passes and pitchers getting behind in counts – while “find[ing] ways to score runs any way we can.”

“We feel good about our chances to win,” Karraker said. “But if we don’t do those things, you’re going to see the same results of up and down.”

The Harbor Hawks will return to McKeon Park on Sunday to face the Cotuit Kettleers. First pitch is set for 6 p.m.