Ties almost always feel like a loss. No one wins, no one is happy, and no one gets the thrill of winning. For the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox on Tuesday, a tie was their best-case scenario.

Y-D came back from five runs down to tie the Chatham Anglers, 6-6, in eight innings due to darkness at Red Wilson Field. Manager Scott Pickler has Y-D at a 13-1-1 record, which is the best 15-game start by any CCBL team since 2011, when the league began tracking game-by-game results. Not only has the talent been on display, but so has the team bond, and it's a large reason why the Red Sox are already a part of history.

“This is a really talented group, as every team is talented, but there's just a special energy connection that this group has developed, and you can feel it,” assistant coach Craig Gianinno said. “These dudes just love being around each other. They love playing the game, they love competing, they work their butts off, and they're really coachable kids.”

Because the CCBL’s standings are based on a point system, a tie actually has benefits. Y-D is comfortably sitting first in the East Division with 27 points, seven more than Harwich in second. While the standings look pretty for Y-D, Tuesday’s game didn’t start that way. Walks, hit batters and errors caused four runs to score in the second inning. Y-D managed just three hits through the first five innings and trailed 5-0 after four and a half innings, but the bottom of the fifth is where the script flipped.

Phoenix Call (UCLA) hit a grounder to third with runners on the corners. Anglers third baseman Tyler Lichtenberger tried to gun down the runner at home but instead hit Reid Howard (Virginia) in the helmet, giving Y-D its first run of the game. In the sixth inning, Mateo Serna (Alabama) hit a two-run homer on a 1-0 up-and-away fastball, cutting the deficit to 5-3.

“I was trying to get a pitch to hit, and it worked out,” Serna told Y-D sideline reporter Olivia Lambert. “I talked to Tommy [Goodin] before the at-bat, and he was giving me some great tips.”

The past two games, Serna has batted behind Goodin (Vanderbilt), and it has worked out. They’re two of the hottest hitters not only on Y-D but across the league, with batting averages both above .300 and a combined five home runs.

Y-D gave up a run in the top of the seventh, but Goodin responded in the bottom half, slicing a two-out, two-run single against a left-handed pitcher. Goodin, a left-handed batter, is now hitting .357 against lefties.

“I like seeing these pitches off my front hip,” Goodin said. “A curveball or a slider, if you're seeing it off the front hip, they're gonna come back in the zone. If you see it starting up in the middle, it's obviously gonna fade away. That’s my approach against lefties.”

Goodin couldn’t give Serna any more advice because he reached base, but Serna had already figured it out. His great night became even better as Serna drove in the game-tying run with a single to left field. An inning later, the game was called because of darkness.

While the offense excelled against Chatham, Y-D pitcher Cade O’Leary (Florida State) was a key reason why the Red Sox avoided a loss. In his longest outing through four appearances (three innings), O’Leary conceded just one run and kept Chatham’s bats in check, allowing Y-D to storm back.

“There’s a million positives from this game,” Pickler said. “O’Leary came in and made an adjustment on his arm angle and threw three great innings. To come back from five runs down is a great sign.”

In a game where the defense was a bit rough, Kevin Takeuchi (Southern California) came through. A bloop single by Chatham’s Rob Rispoli led to an errant throw from right field, but Takeuchi scooped it up and fired the relay home as Serna tagged out Armani Guzman for the game-saving play.

Y-D hopes to take the momentum into Falmouth when it plays the Commodores at 6 p.m. on Wednesday.