Bad breaks haunt Braves, fall to Falmouth 4-3

The Braves racked up 12 hits but left 13 runners on, falling to Falmouth 4-3 on Friday at Guv Fuller Field.

Bad breaks haunt Braves, fall to Falmouth 4-3

By Mac Friday

(Photo: Braden Reed/Bourne Braves)

Sometimes, Lady Luck is on your side, waving her hand and showing her almighty powers of sway and leverage.

On Thursday night, luck was certainly on the Bravos’ side as a large strike zone, controversial balk call and another battle over a dropped third strike helped pave a win for Bourne.

On Friday night though, any remote shroud of luck that went the way of Bourne the night prior was thrown out the window, as the Braves lost 4-3 with 12 hits and 13 runners left on base.

From the very beginning, it looked as if Friday night’s contest was not bound to go the way of Bourne, as the Braves committed three errors in the first inning, including two on the same play, allowing Falmouth to jump out to an early 3-0 lead.

Starter Anthony Arguelles struggled to find the zone early, but across his entire two-inning open in which four runs crossed, only two were earned. Third baseman Wyatt Henseler, who committed one of the costly errors in the first, spoke about keys to moving on from early mistakes which were crucial to the Braves in the latter stages.

“You have to have a bad memory with games like this,” Henseler said. “I had a terrible error in the first inning and honestly, you just have to flush it. I thought we flushed it pretty well after that, we just didn’t get the calls.”

In the fifth, second baseman Matt Shaw laced a one-out double to right center, then scored on a blooper by first baseman Chris Brito to put the Bravos on the board.

With two outs in the seventh, left fielder Evan Sleight found himself up 3-0 against lefty Garrett Coe, who then rallied back for a full count. Sleight took ball four on a call that the Falmouth dugout heavily disagreed with. Next came Thursday night’s hero in right fielder Mac Horvath, who spanked a 1-0 pitch over the left field wall for another clutch home run. Bourne trailed by one.

In the eighth, the Braves had their best chance to complete yet another comeback. With Bryce Eblin on second, catcher Tomas Frick stepped in. Frick is not known for his hitting abilities, boasting just one hit in 23 at-bats for a .043 average. However, Frick saw a hung curveball and hacked at it, sending a rocket down the third base line. Eblin came around third to score.

Everyone in the ballpark thought the ball was fair, as there was at least half a foot of green grass in fair territory between the ball’s landing spot and the foul line. Everyone except home plate umpire Carlos Dolmo, who made the call instead of third base umpire Ryan DiMare. Braves manager Scott Landers made sure DiMare knew that it wasn’t Dolmo’s call to make and would’ve let DiMare continue to hear his thoughts on the matter if it weren’t for bench coach Jarrod Saltalamacchia, who pulled Landers away, not wanting him to be tossed for the second time in three games.

As the frame waned on, Frick would be hit by a worm burner into the four hole and called out for runner’s interference. Shortstop John Peck and Shaw then both reached on back-to-back singles that didn’t leave the infield, keeping the tying run in Eblin confined to third base. After a mighty at-bat by Brito, the first baseman slashed a ball into the left field gap, destined to score at least two runs and give Bourne the lead. Left fielder Travis Chestnut had other ideas, making a diving catch to keep Falmouth ahead.

“When a guy gets hit on the basepaths, it’s the most unlucky thing to ever happen,” Henseler said. “That could’ve been tie game, but there’s a lot of circumstances tonight like that.”

“It just wasn’t our night,” Landers reflected. “A couple of calls didn’t go our way, a couple of plays didn’t go our way. They made a great play in the eighth to escape… The luck just wasn’t on our side today. After we settled in, we probably should’ve been up by two and instead, we were down three in the first. We tried to battle back and we had 12 hits, we just couldn’t get guys in.”

The bullpen also deserves some massive credit for Friday night, keeping the Commodores at bay for the final six innings with just four hits allowed between lefty Craig Scherrer, righty Reese Sharp and lefty Robb Adams. Sharp had his best performance of the summer by far, allowing just one hit in three innings of scoreless relief with four strikeouts.

The Braves return to action on Saturday at home for their final matchup with the Brewster Whitecaps. First pitch is set for 6:00 p.m.