Carlos Asuaje went 3-5, upping his average to .314, as the Red Sox topped Bourne 7-5 Friday night.
By: Corey Burns
The Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox made it two wins in a row after beating the Bourne Braves 7-5 at Red Wilson Field on Friday the 13th. Red Sox ace, Aaron Blair, had his ups and downs in this game but managed to squeeze out his fifth consecutive win.
Blair entered the game with a perfect 4-0 record in four games started with a league leading 0.37 ERA. However, this game didn?t go as smoothly as the rest. Blair only gave up three hits and struck out six over six innings, but gave up six walks, five of those were hit by a pitch. Those walks led to three earned runs, after allowing only one earned all season.
Nebraska?s Jon Keller got the start for the Braves and fell to 0-2 on the season. Keller pitched 4.1 innings allowing eight hits and three earned runs.
The Braves got on the board first in the second inning, scoring two runs after back-to-back hit batters by Blair. After a sacrifice bunt, a wild pitch and a RBI single gave Bourne the early lead.
Y-D fired back in the home half of the second cutting the lead in half when Wayne Taylor singled and drove in Robert Pehl, who had reached base on an error.
Blair seemed to find his groove again for a few innings as he retired six batters in a row over two innings after allowing the runs in the second.
The Red Sox started the bottom of the third with back-to-back doubles by Carlos Asuaje and Alex Blandino, tying the game at two. Later in the inning the Red Sox had two runners thrown out at home on a fielder?s choice and an infield single denying them their first lead of the game.
Blair seemed to lose control again in the top of the fifth. After walking Austin Wynns on four pitches, he hit consecutive batters to load the bases with no outs. He escaped only allowing one run, making it 3-2 Bourne, on a fielder?s choice by Jack Reinheimer, before retiring the three and four hitters.
The Red Sox responded quickly in the bottom of the fifth. Sam Travis hit a double, followed by a walk to Zak Blair. John Farrell relieved the starter only to walk Robert Pehl to load the bases with one out. Mason Katz put the team ahead 4-3 after five when he singled to center drove in two.
Y-D added another run to make it 5-3 in the sixth after another set of back-to-back doubles. This time Tanner Mathis led of with a double followed by Carlos Asuaje?s double, scoring Mathis.
Bryan Verbitsky came into the game for the Red Sox in the top of the seventh. He pitched two scoreless innings allowing just one hit while striking out four of the seven batters he faced.
In the bottom of the eighth, Sam Travis added two more insurance runs after a two-run homerun off Bourne?s third pitcher, Chris Matulis. Little did the Red Sox know how important those runs were.
A.J. Vanegas came into pitch for the Red Sox in the top of the ninth to close it out. After recording the first two outs of the inning on a ground out and strike out, the Braves decided to have some fun with two outs. A walk and back-to-back singles gave Bourne bases loaded with two outs. Reinheimer then grounded to third, but an error allowed one run and the inning to continue with the heart of the Braves line up due. Colin Moran then singled to score another run cutting the lead to 7-5. With the bases still loaded, clean-up hitter Chase McDonald, struck out looking to end the ball game and continuing his miserable day at the plate, going 0-5 with four strikeouts on the evening.
The Red Sox look to make it three in a row Saturday when the first place Harwich Mariners come to Red Wilson Field.
