Andrew Thurman tossed 4.1 innings, allowing five runs on nine hits Friday as the Red Sox fell to Cotuit 7-4.
By: Andrew Constant / @andrew_constant
COTUIT ? Starter Andrew Thurman labored through 4.1 innings and the Red Sox couldn?t hold a 4-3 lead, as the Cotuit Kettleers edged Y-D for a 7-4 victory Friday night at Lowell Park. Y-D?s 10 hits were offset by 11 strikeouts and three errors, as their modest two-game winning streak came to an end.
Thurman struggled out of the gates, falling behind early. Adam Nelubowich walked to lead off the home first inning and continued trotting around the bases when Daniel Aldrich crushed a two-run home run over the Red Sox bullpen in deep right field, giving Cotuit a 2-1 lead. Aldrich went 2-5 with three RBI.
The lead that the Red Sox handed Thurman was short-lived, after they scraped across a run in the top of the first. Carlos Asuaje singled with one out and went to second on a wild pitch. Robert Pehl followed with a single of his own, advancing Asuaje to third. But as Aldrich threw the ball back in, it got away from everyone, and Asuaje raced home with the game?s first run. Pehl continues to pace the Red Sox attack, leading the team with a .438 average this summer.
The Red Sox regained the lead in the top of the third, pushing across three runs against Cotuit starter Adam McCreery. Sean McHugh led off with a double off the right field wall and moved up 90 feet when Tanner Mathis singled behind him. Asuaje knocked McHugh in with his second single in as many at-bats, tying the score at 2-2. With Pehl at the plate, both Mathis and Asuaje advanced a base after a wild pitch by McCreery, putting two in scoring position with nobody out. Pehl walked later in that at bat to load the bases for Sam Travis.
Travis hit a sacrifice fly to right, giving Y-D the lead, before Mason Katz had a similar plate appearance. Katz?s sac fly was his seventh RBI of the summer and gave the Red Sox a two-run cushion.
That lead stood until the fifth inning when Thurman faltered again. A single and a double put runners on the corners with one out for Cotuit, when Mike Ford stepped to the plate. He hit a sharp grounder to first, and it looked like Sean Dwyer would be able to pick it up and turn an inning-ending double play, but the ball took a funny hop and bounced over Dwyer?s glove and into right field. Both runners came across, giving Cotuit the lead and ending the evening for Thurman. He allowed nine hits and five runs in 4.1 innings, striking out five but walking four.
Jonny Hoffman was first out of the Y-D bullpen and he induced a 4-6-3 double play to end the threat. Hoffman tossed 2.1 innings of relief, giving up just two base hits.
AJ Vanegas struggled in his second consecutive appearance of the summer, allowing two runs in the eighth inning. Vanegas, the latest addition to Y-D?s roster on Tuesday, gave up a two-run single to Jacob May with the bases loaded and nobody out in the eighth, stretching the Kettleers? lead to 7-4.
Y-D hosts Orleans Saturday with Alex Gonzalez scheduled to take the mound at Red Wilson Field.?
