Bravos explode on offense, score 12 runs in victory over Kettleers
By Mac Friday
(Photo: Braden Reed/Bourne Braves)
The biggest draw of every Fourth of July comes after the sun dips below the horizon as booming beautiful fireworks light up the sky. For the Bourne Braves, games on July 3, 4 and 6 provided a lot of solid pitching, but a lack of overall offense. The Bravos etched across just five runs in three consecutive ties – two with the Wareham Gatemen and one with the Hyannis Harbor Hawks.
However, in their second visit to Lowell Park in 2022 in Cotuit on Thursday, the Bravos finally found a way to light up the evening sky with their own fireworks, scoring 12 runs on 12 hits in their greatest batting showcase in 2022, beating the West Division first place Cotuit Kettleers 12-7.
“It’s definitely good to see for us,” first baseman Josh Moylan said. “For a while, we were hitting balls really hard and they were getting caught. Today we got them to fall and we got some out, so it was an awesome day for us offensively and a great day for us moving forward.”
With very little consistency on the 2022 season in the batter’s box, it was only appropriate that the only constant on offense, shortstop Matt Shaw, set the table against Cotuit on Thursday. First pitch swinging in the first inning, the two-hole hitting shortstop pierced a solo shot over the right-center field wall, a 99 mph, 402-foot shot. Shaw would be the catalyst in the next offensive burst for the Bravos in the third, driving a hotshot double into the left-center field gap. First baseman Christ Brito came aboard with a walk and left fielder Evan Sleight followed him up with a hit-by-pitch. Shaw scored on a sacrifice fly to center field, then Moylan stepped up to the plate.
Moylan’s most recent hit came over a week ago in a 1-0 win against the Falmouth Commodores, before a four-game, 14-plate appearance streak without a single hit or walk going into Thursday night against the Kettleers. After a strikeout in his first at-bat on Thursday, Moylan stepped in eager to make a difference. The East Carolina Pirate fell behind 0-2 and then spit on two balls, fouled two off, watched another ball scream by, then fouled off the eighth pitch. On the ninth pitch, he knew what to expect and smashed it to right field, tucking it behind the foul pole for a three-run Bravos blast, putting Bourne up 5-0.
“I knew I was going to get a lot of the same pitches I did in my first at-bat which wasn’t too good,” Moylan said. “I wanted that same back foot cutter/slider and he went to it four or five times that at-bat and he left one over the plate and I put a pretty good swing on it.”
In the fifth, the Bravos loaded the bases with two outs, but a misjudgment by Sleight to run from third on a wild pitch resulted in him being tagged out at home, stranding the other Bravos.
After a two-run blast by Ketts’ second baseman Tommy Troy in the third, Cotuit battled back to tie the game back up in the fifth as catcher Jimmy Obertop reached on a walk. Troy found another pitched he liked and bested his first home run by 33 feet on an absolute no-doubter to left-center field just next to the scoreboard. Troy hit his first home run off of lefty Will Sandy, but used the flamethrowing Mason Pelio, sitting 95 mph with his fastball, to hit his second bomb, a three-run blast, 418 feet.
The first two pitchers for Bourne, Sandy and Pelio, acquired all of their earned runs off the bat of Troy. Sandy pitched a trio of innings on Thursday with Pelio dealing just a pair. In the bottom of the ninth with Bourne far ahead on the scoreboard, Troy struck again with a two-RBI single off righty Reese Sharp. Troy drove in every Cotuit run except for an RBI single by first baseman Tyler Johnson in the fifth.
“Troy had an excellent game for Cotuit,” Braves manager Scott Landers said. “His two home runs were both fastballs hit out so we have to do a better job with that and not allow them back in the game.”
“I didn’t think we pitched great for how based off how we have been doing (over the last few games).”
A bright spot in the pitching department was the debut of right-hander Anthony Arguelles, who dealt three-innings of no-hit baseball in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings. The Miami Hurricane headed to Virginia Tech next year struck out four Kettleers and walked one.
“It was good to get out there and play some baseball, it’s been a while since the college season ended,” Arguelles noted. “It was fun to play with the guys. I had all three pitches – fastball, curveball, changeup – working well. I was getting ahead of guys and focusing on putting them away. I worked really well with (Espinal).”
In the sixth, Shaw stepped up to the plate with the bases juiced and one out for a bonafide scoring opportunity with the game tied at five. The shortstop nearly hit the ball out of the park for the second time on the day, but deposited a ground-rule double over the right center field fence instead, bringing home two runs. Brito followed up with a double of his own, bringing in the remainder of the runs left on after Shaw’s two-bagger. Braves catcher Alan Espinal was the table setter in the fifth, starting the rally after a leadoff flyout by right fielder Carson Roccaforte. Espinal broke a six-game hitting slump in the process.
“After a couple at-bats I had to just put (the slump) past me and be there for the team,” Espinal said. “It was bigger than me and I had to just put one and play. It felt good to do that tonight.”
In the seventh, Shaw struck again, poking his second home run over the right-field fence for an oppo-taco blast that went 374 feet. The Maryland product finished his Thursday going 4-for-5 with two home runs and a pair of doubles with six RBI.
“He came into today on a mini-slump, not hitting the ball great over the last few games,” Landers pointed out. “When he’s backspinning balls to the opposite field, you know he’s feeling good. He did that multiple times today and is in a good place right now. He also did it with multiple pitches and did it around breaking balls and fastballs. When he’s seeing the ball well, it’s always good to have him.”
For the first time on the season, the Braves scored double digit runs, besting their best offensive performance at Eldredge Park in an 8-2 win over the Orleans Firebirds on June 18. The 12 runs put up by Bourne tie the second-most runs put up in a single game with a slew of other teams who have scored 12, all behind the Brewster Whitecaps who put up 16 runs against the Harwich Mariners on Sunday.
With an offense that has been struggling, there is no antidote like a flurry of extra-base hits, timely hitting and runs to get a team back on track like the Braves achieved on Thursday, especially against the winningest team in the league.
“That offensive performance was way over due,” Landers chuckled. “We had hits, but more importantly, timely hits and extra-base hits. Hopefully it’s a kick in the butt to get the guys going.”
“We knew these would be big games this week against division opponents like Hyannis and Cotuit. These are big momentum swings for us and it’s good to get things going into the weekend and we will see how we can carry it over.”
Bourne returns to Doran Park on Friday for their final home game against East Division opponent Orleans. They then hit the road against Hyannis on Saturday and return home to Bourne to face Cotuit once more. First pitch against the Firebirds is set for 6:00 p.m.
