Y-D offense shut down in 2-0 loss to Orleans

By: Dylan Wilhelm

Y-D’s five-game point streak came to an end on Wednesday in a 2-0 defeat to the Orleans Firebirds at Red Wilson Field, dropping the Sox record to 4-4-2.

In a pitcher’s duel, the Firebirds were able to come away with a victory thanks to the strength of one swing.

The game felt very similar to the first four games of the summer, where the Red Sox went 0-3-1. The Y-D pitching staff did more than enough to keep them in games, but the offense just couldn’t get rolling, an eerily similar feeling to Wednesday’s outing.

Both teams had multiple chances to get on the board in the early innings, but couldn’t scratch across a run, combining to leave 11 runners on through the first three frames.

After a bumpy first few innings, Eric Yost settled in, at one point retiring 10 straight Firebirds. With one out in the top of the 6th, he hit Kevin Sim on the hand with an inside fastball, and that was the end of his outing.

“Felt good. I was able to get my off-speed pitches in the zone, which helped,” Yost said. “First couple of innings, I was in and out of the zone. 3rd, 4th, and 5th I was able to keep it down in the zone and get groundballs.”

Field Manager Scott Pickler elected to bring in Kris Bow to face Luke Keaschall. Keaschall promptly welcomed Bow to the ballgame with a towering shot to left field that plated him and Sim for the only two runs of the game.

Despite ending up with the loss, Bow wasn’t discouraged postgame when talking about his and the team’s performance.

“Just means we have the chance to come back out Friday and get another win.”

On the other side, five Orleans pitchers combined to shut down the Red Sox offensively, allowing just three hits, two of them from Johnny Long.

While the Sox weren’t able to string together base hits, they certainly had their fair share of baserunners and opportunities. They had multiple baserunners on in five innings, but stranded runners in seven innings, including multiple runners in four. Overall, the Sox left 12 runners on base.

Pickler remains two wins shy of breaking the all-time Cape League managerial wins record of 539.

The Red Sox return to action on Friday after an off day tomorrow, hosting the Chatham Anglers for the first time this season at 5 p.m. at Red Wilson Field.

Looking ahead to the weekend, the Sox travel to unbeaten Cotuit (8-0-1) on Saturday before hosting Falmouth for a doubleheader on Sunday, the last of two scheduled doubleheaders on the season.

Injury Update

Dylan Ray was hit on the hand by a comebacker in Monday’s doubleheader in Bourne. X-rays were negative and Pickler expects him to be good to go in about a week. It’s a similar injury and timeline to Pas Ferreras, who returned to action after missing four games.