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Pitching inconsistencies cause Chatham to fall on road against Harwich
CHATHAM, Mass. — Harvey Dent, better known as Two-Face, is a supervillain in the DC Comics Universe, existing purely to antagonize Batman.
Canonically, Dent was formerly a district attorney, tasked with prosecuting the worst criminals Gotham had to offer. But during an altercation he had with mob-boss Sal Maroni, acid was splashed on him, leading to horrible disfigurement on half of his face. He adopted the Two-Face alter-ego soon after, developing two distinct personalities and becoming obsessed with the concept of duality.
Chatham’s Mason Bixby (TCU/transfer) has become familiar with that concept.
In his Cape League debut, the hard-throwing righty came out of the gate shoving, tossing 3.0 scoreless innings to lock down the Anglers’ 4-2 win over Cotuit. But last Sunday, it was as if an alter-ego had appeared in his place, as he gave up four runs in the A’s 9-7 loss to Falmouth. Making his first start of the season, the Anglers hoped for a performance akin to the former.
But on Saturday, Bixby was more Two-Face than Harvey Dent, as the same inconsistencies that plagued him against the Commodores reared their ugly head against Harwich. In Chatham’s (7-8-3, East) 6-1 loss to Harwich (9-6-3, East) Saturday, Bixby followed a scoreless first frame by allowing five runs across his next two innings. And coming off an impressive 12-hit performance at Orleans, the A’s mustered seven hits at Whitehouse Field.
“It looks like we had seven hits, but we just couldn’t string any hits together,” Anglers manager Dennis Cook said. “Sometimes that happens in baseball.”
Initially, Bixby was sharp out the gate. Unlike his previous outing against Falmouth, he attacked the zone, staying ahead in counts and forcing Harwich into unfavorable swings. In the first, his strikeout of Tanner Marsh was bookended by groundouts from Tre Broussard and Sam Harris.
However, Harwich lefty Toby Twist matched him. After a flawless first inning, he worked around a single by Jackson Freeman (Northwestern) and a walk to Daniel Jackson (Georgia) in the second by striking out the side.
His performance gave Harwich’s offense a chance to break through, and they capitalized on it. After getting ahead on a 1-2 count, Bixby conceded a two-out walk to Shintaro Inoue. And in the subsequent at bat, Bixby got ahead on Harwich catcher Matt Conte with an 0-2 count.
But yet again, he squandered his advantage, moving Inoue to third by giving up a double to Conte. After getting behind on a 2-0 count to Bristol Carter, Bixby gave up another double, and the Mariners were suddenly up two runs on the Anglers.
“I think (Bixby) got himself in a little bit of trouble today with some offensive counts,” Cook said.
With a leadoff double by Miller — his first extra base hit of the season — it appeared that Chatham was going to be able to find some semblance of a response facing a two-run deficit.
But Miller never even touched third. Gallaher followed a Ford base on balls by lining out, and Twist induced a ground ball from Mendoza for an inning-ending double play.
Things didn’t just snowball from there. It was a full-on avalanche from Harwich.
After a single by Broussard and a walk to Marsh, Maddox Molony came up with two runners on.
The Mariners’ third baseman couldn’t have pictured a better at bat. After fouling off the first pitch he saw, Molony took three consecutive balls to get ahead 3-1 in the count. Bixby couldn’t afford issuing a walk, so he had no choice but to feed him a fastball over the heart of the plate.
Molony absolutely feasted on it, crushing a three-run homer into left field to extend Harwich’s cushion to five. While Bixby managed to work around a subsequent double from Robbins, the damage was already done. Chatham’s response proved too little, too late.
“To me, that’s the difference in the game,” Cook said. “We got to stay locked in on doing our job. Even with two quick outs, the inning’s not over until the third out.”
With two outs in the top of the fourth, Jackson demolished a ground-rule double, and Larson drove him in by reaching on an error at first soon after. Afterward, Twist was forced out of the game in favor of Thomas Shurtleff, and Isaiah Lane (San Diego) stepped to the plate with a chance to significantly trim Harwich’s lead.
Five pitches later, and he was walking back to the dugout bat in hand, having killed the rally by swinging and missing on strike three.
Neither team got much going in the subsequent two innings. Things settled down after Dane Burns (Mississippi State) replaced Bixby in relief, and Shurtleff continued to dominate the A’s after striking out Lane.
But even Burns wasn’t immune to some ill-advised plays. After Carter notched a bunt single, the Mariners center fielder somehow snuck his way around to third, with Broussard on first after reaching on a fielder’s choice.
Trying to ensure Broussard couldn’t move into scoring position, Burns tried to pick him off at first. As the ball floated toward Jackson at first base, Carter bolted for home, and Jackson couldn’t get the ball to Miller behind the plate in time to prevent him from scoring. To Cook, the root cause of the mistake was simple.
“Lack of communication,” Cook said postgame. “The guy was getting a big lead, and the third baseman didn’t say anything to him to check the runner.”
On Saturday’s Anglers Extra Pregame Show, Cook reiterated that he felt Chatham’s 7-5 Fourth of July win over Orleans was sloppy. The A’s made too many mistakes, struck out too many times and gave up too many free passes for his liking.
He hoped they would improve upon those issues against Harwich. But if their performance Saturday was any indication, the Anglers must’ve missed the memo.
Canonically, Dent was formerly a district attorney, tasked with prosecuting the worst criminals Gotham had to offer. But during an altercation he had with mob-boss Sal Maroni, acid was splashed on him, leading to horrible disfigurement on half of his face. He adopted the Two-Face alter-ego soon after, developing two distinct personalities and becoming obsessed with the concept of duality.
Chatham’s Mason Bixby (TCU/transfer) has become familiar with that concept.
In his Cape League debut, the hard-throwing righty came out of the gate shoving, tossing 3.0 scoreless innings to lock down the Anglers’ 4-2 win over Cotuit. But last Sunday, it was as if an alter-ego had appeared in his place, as he gave up four runs in the A’s 9-7 loss to Falmouth. Making his first start of the season, the Anglers hoped for a performance akin to the former.
But on Saturday, Bixby was more Two-Face than Harvey Dent, as the same inconsistencies that plagued him against the Commodores reared their ugly head against Harwich. In Chatham’s (7-8-3, East) 6-1 loss to Harwich (9-6-3, East) Saturday, Bixby followed a scoreless first frame by allowing five runs across his next two innings. And coming off an impressive 12-hit performance at Orleans, the A’s mustered seven hits at Whitehouse Field.
“It looks like we had seven hits, but we just couldn’t string any hits together,” Anglers manager Dennis Cook said. “Sometimes that happens in baseball.”
Initially, Bixby was sharp out the gate. Unlike his previous outing against Falmouth, he attacked the zone, staying ahead in counts and forcing Harwich into unfavorable swings. In the first, his strikeout of Tanner Marsh was bookended by groundouts from Tre Broussard and Sam Harris.
However, Harwich lefty Toby Twist matched him. After a flawless first inning, he worked around a single by Jackson Freeman (Northwestern) and a walk to Daniel Jackson (Georgia) in the second by striking out the side.
His performance gave Harwich’s offense a chance to break through, and they capitalized on it. After getting ahead on a 1-2 count, Bixby conceded a two-out walk to Shintaro Inoue. And in the subsequent at bat, Bixby got ahead on Harwich catcher Matt Conte with an 0-2 count.
But yet again, he squandered his advantage, moving Inoue to third by giving up a double to Conte. After getting behind on a 2-0 count to Bristol Carter, Bixby gave up another double, and the Mariners were suddenly up two runs on the Anglers.
“I think (Bixby) got himself in a little bit of trouble today with some offensive counts,” Cook said.
With a leadoff double by Miller — his first extra base hit of the season — it appeared that Chatham was going to be able to find some semblance of a response facing a two-run deficit.
But Miller never even touched third. Gallaher followed a Ford base on balls by lining out, and Twist induced a ground ball from Mendoza for an inning-ending double play.
Things didn’t just snowball from there. It was a full-on avalanche from Harwich.
After a single by Broussard and a walk to Marsh, Maddox Molony came up with two runners on.
The Mariners’ third baseman couldn’t have pictured a better at bat. After fouling off the first pitch he saw, Molony took three consecutive balls to get ahead 3-1 in the count. Bixby couldn’t afford issuing a walk, so he had no choice but to feed him a fastball over the heart of the plate.
Molony absolutely feasted on it, crushing a three-run homer into left field to extend Harwich’s cushion to five. While Bixby managed to work around a subsequent double from Robbins, the damage was already done. Chatham’s response proved too little, too late.
“To me, that’s the difference in the game,” Cook said. “We got to stay locked in on doing our job. Even with two quick outs, the inning’s not over until the third out.”
With two outs in the top of the fourth, Jackson demolished a ground-rule double, and Larson drove him in by reaching on an error at first soon after. Afterward, Twist was forced out of the game in favor of Thomas Shurtleff, and Isaiah Lane (San Diego) stepped to the plate with a chance to significantly trim Harwich’s lead.
Five pitches later, and he was walking back to the dugout bat in hand, having killed the rally by swinging and missing on strike three.
Neither team got much going in the subsequent two innings. Things settled down after Dane Burns (Mississippi State) replaced Bixby in relief, and Shurtleff continued to dominate the A’s after striking out Lane.
But even Burns wasn’t immune to some ill-advised plays. After Carter notched a bunt single, the Mariners center fielder somehow snuck his way around to third, with Broussard on first after reaching on a fielder’s choice.
Trying to ensure Broussard couldn’t move into scoring position, Burns tried to pick him off at first. As the ball floated toward Jackson at first base, Carter bolted for home, and Jackson couldn’t get the ball to Miller behind the plate in time to prevent him from scoring. To Cook, the root cause of the mistake was simple.
“Lack of communication,” Cook said postgame. “The guy was getting a big lead, and the third baseman didn’t say anything to him to check the runner.”
On Saturday’s Anglers Extra Pregame Show, Cook reiterated that he felt Chatham’s 7-5 Fourth of July win over Orleans was sloppy. The A’s made too many mistakes, struck out too many times and gave up too many free passes for his liking.
He hoped they would improve upon those issues against Harwich. But if their performance Saturday was any indication, the Anglers must’ve missed the memo.
