Itsuki Takemoto (Hawaii) dominated for the Firebirds with six scoreless innings and stands second in the Cape League with a 0.95 ERA as Orleans beat Yarmouth-Dennis 8-1 on Friday at Eldredge Park.
Takemoto made his first start with Orleans and allowed just two runs in 13 ⅓ innings in relief entering his outing. Takemoto struck out six with no walks, did not allow a Y-D runner past second and allowed three hits to lower his batting average against to .123. Takemoto displayed his mid-60s breaking ball and had Y-D hitters off balance consistently.
The Red Sox fell to the last-place Firebirds for the second time this summer as the two teams have split the season series at 2-2. Orleans won back-to-back games for the first time this season and moved its record to 9-19 while first place Y-D dropped to 17-9-2 in a one-run performance.
Orleans entered with the fewest runs scored in the league with 86 but have recorded 17 combined runs in the last two games against the Red Sox. Orleans scored 11.75 percent of their total runs on Friday and have scored 1/3 of their overall runs against Y-D.
Ben Zeigler-Namoa (Hawaii) was 2-for-2 with an RBI and Chris Barr (Army) was 2-for-4 with two RBIs. Eight different Firebirds reached base and Orleans totaled nine hits as Y-D committed three errors.
Right-hander Dylan Vigue (Michigan) made his fifth start of the summer and his third straight against Orleans. After going 5 ⅓ innings each of the last two starts, Vigue recorded four strikeouts in three innings and allowed one run. Vigue has registered at least four strikeouts in each of his starts and has 26 over 23 ⅓ innings with a 3.86 ERA.
Barr made three spectacular plays in center field ranging to his left and robbed the Red Sox from extra bases and multiple runs. Two of those came on back-to-back plays in the first inning as Ethan Petry (South Carolina) and Anthony Martinez (UC Irvine) had their hits taken away just shy of the wall.
The Firebirds scored the first run of the game in the bottom of the second as Lorenzo Meola (Stetson) hit a 2-2 pitch over the left-center field fence for a solo home run. Meola hit his second homer of the summer and his second blast in the last three games.
Justin Lee (UCLA) took over for Vigue in the bottom of the fourth and allowed three runs with two earned. Barr had an RBI double which was followed by an RBI single from Hudson Shupe (Gonzaga) and an error from Martinez that plated a pair. Lee walked three and threw 35 pitches in the frame but stranded runners on the corners to hold the score at 4-0.
Ethan Firoved (Pittsburgh) made his Y-D debut with a scoreless fifth inning before Robbie Ayers (Loyola Marymount) started the sixth with a solo home run to give Orleans a 5-0 lead. Barr had his second RBI double and Toran O’Harran (Stanford) walked in two runs in the seventh inning as Orleans extended its lead to 8-0.
The lone Red Sox run came in the top of the ninth as Petry’s fifth double of the summer was followed by an RBI groundout from Ryan Sprock (Elon) to make the score 8-1.
Photo by Sophie Solarino
