By Ben Strober
It seemed as if no one could get anything going at Veterans Field. Through 4.5 innings, the game saw just one hit, and Yarmouth-Dennis starter Finnegan Wall wasn’t who allowed it.
The second batter of the back half of that fifth inning was Aidan Meola. In a 0-0 game, one swing can change the game’s complexion, and Meola did just that.
Meola notched the Anglers’ first hit of the evening, a big fly to left. Meola’s blast sparked three-straight innings that Chatham scored in, which was enough to breeze past the Red Sox, 3-0.
The Red Sox’s loss marked a second-straight loss following a Hyannis walk-off on Wednesday.
“They kept us off balance tonight,” field manager Scott Pickler said. “They mixed in a lot of good pitches and made enough good swings.”
Chatham’s pitching staff stifled Y-D’s offense into a two-hit evening and a shutout.
“We didn’t put enough good swings out tonight,” Pickler said.
Wall turned in a superb six-innings for Y-D, but the lack of run support pinned him to an unfortunate loss.
Wall and Blake Aita served as the two Red Sox pitchers for the night, providing the bullpen some much-needed rest.
“We needed it cause our bullpen was empty tonight,” Pickler said.
Wall blanked Chatham three up, three down in the first thanks to two Major League level plays from Atlanta Braves 12th round pick Brady Day.
Likewise, Chatham starter Ben Peterson kept the Red Sox quiet early.
The Red Sox put two in scoring position with one out in the third and even loaded the bases, but Peterson escaped the jam unscathed.
With the bats silenced, Wall continued to shove his way through Chatham’s lineup. Through five, he sent the Anglers down in order in every inning except one.
“I really trusted my fastball today,” Wall said. “I just tried to throw strikes and keep guys off the basepaths.”
For everything Wall did well, Peterson matched it. Peterson must’ve hit a pitch limit because he was pulled after 4.2 innings and only 59 pitches. Peterson allowed just one hit and struck out four.
The first hit Wall allowed was the fifth-inning solo blast from Meola.
“He threw a great game,” Pickler said. “He commanded both sides of the zone. That was a great pitching duel.”
Chatham extended the lead to two runs in the next inning on Kaeden Kent’s blooper that dropped in front of Paxton Kling in center.
Still, Wall completed a season-high six innings, including seven strikeouts and just three hits allowed.
“We called a lot of cutters and sliders, which resulted in a lot of ground balls and weak contact,” Wall said. “I got great calls from [Pickler].”
Anglers’ reliever Jack Seppings found the same success as Peterson. Ryan Jackson’s third-inning single represented the only Y-D hit through seven innings.
Before a Casey Cook walk, the Red Sox went over four innings without a baserunner.
Blake Aita took over in the back half of the seventh and surrendered a leadoff blast from Chatham’s Zach MacDonald. The shot to center put the Anglers up 3-0.
As they’ve done all season, the boys started to battle in the eighth. A hit, and two walks, loaded the bases for the Red Sox with just one gone.
The Anglers turned to shutdown reliever Aiden Jimenez and shut Y-D down is what he did. Jimenez induced Zander Darby’s inning-ending 4-6-3 double play to strand the loaded bases.
That was the best chance the Red Sox got as they went down to close out the night.
Once again, our bats were quiet as the Angler’s pitchers controlled the zone and the game. Finn was great
once more, and as Ben pointed out, deserved a win in this one. Let’s hope we get a break in the weather
today so we can get the game in tonight at home vs the Whitecaps. GO SOX!!!
Gary