CHATHAM, Mass. — Help was on the way. There was Junior Lauaki, the newly-minted Georgia first baseman who slugged 14 home runs in his freshman year for Oregon. There was Tyler Howe, the UNC freshman who was a fixture in the Tar Heels’ College World Series outfield. And there was Cam Pruitt, who hit .357 at Lipscomb to earn himself a transfer to Mizzou.

“The guys that we brought in, they got track records,” A’s manager Dennis Cook said. “We didn't just pick a bum off the street that hit .200 last year.”

But Cook also knows that he doesn’t have time to wait for those track records to translate to on-field performance. There are 15 games left in the regular season. He made it clear that his new arrivals would have a very short “tryout period” before he’d have to make a decision.

That period is over. He wasn’t ready to make the call just two games in, but most of the new arrivals have been here about a week, and they’ve produced little but a four-game losing skid.

“We’re gonna have to make some decisions,” Cook said. “But the hard thing about making decisions is, you got to find somebody to come in and play in their spot.”

There’s the issue at hand. “We’re not very good right now,” Cook said Tuesday night. He had just watched his Anglers put up a hapless five-hit performance on offense, and dig themselves a seven-run hole in the fourth inning that they couldn’t get out of. Those factors combined to sink Chatham (10-13-2, East) Tuesday, as it extended its losing streak to four with a 7-3 defeat to Yarmouth-Dennis (20-4-1, East).

All seven Y-D runs were attributed to A’s starter Oliver Pudvar (UConn). The lefty — who was named to the CCBL East Division’s All-Star roster Monday — certainly looked the part to begin his outing Tuesday, tossing three scoreless innings to open the game.

But Y-D’s starter, Connor Hamilton (Vanderbilt), was a worthy adversary. He matched Pudvar with three scoreless frames of his own, and neither side had a baserunner until Chatham’s Cam Pruitt (Missouri) reached on a throwing error in the bottom of third.

Whatever momentum the A’s could’ve conjured up with that errant throw was immediately erased. The Red Sox flipped it to break their drought, as Phoenix Call (UCLA) led off the top of the fourth with a single, and Dante Vachini (Cal Poly) followed him with a walk.

Kevin Takeuchi (USC) then singled into left to load the bases, setting up Lucas Franco (TCU) to drive in two runs after reaching on a fielding error from Pruitt. Soon after, Tommy Goodin (Vanderbilt) got hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to drive in a third run.

The avalanche continued from there. The Anglers congregated on the mound, hoping to settle Pudvar down, but it didn’t seem to help much. Brock Ketelsen (Stanford) singled into right to drive in Franco soon after, and Cole Hansen (Cal Baptist) ended Pudvar’s night with another single to make it 5-0.

“I think he's getting a little bit tired,” Cook said of Pudvar’s performance. “I thought he was really good the first three, then we kicked the ball at second base, and then the floodgates opened.”

Kaysen Raineri (Texas Tech) replaced him. The Red Sox hit around in the frame. Raineri gave up two more runs before Vachini mercifully ended the frame by grounding into a double play.

There wasn’t anything the A’s could do by then. Tyler Howe (North Carolina) drove in Bino Watters (LSU) with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fourth, making it 7-1. Raineri settled in on the bump, striking out the side in the fifth, but the Anglers’ deficit was still insurmountable.

Especially with how things were going at the plate. Pruitt began the fifth with a groundout to second, Drey Barrett (Southern Miss) struck out for Y-D’s second out and Watters flew out to center field to strand Rob Rispoli (UConn), who reached on a hit-by-pitch.

“We got a lot of guys not hitting very good at all, and a couple that are swinging good that try to carry the whole team,” Cook said postgame. “And it just can't be that way.”

Hamilton exited the game after that, and the A’s showed signs of life once the Red Sox starter departed. Facing off against Owen Birchard (Bryant) in the sixth, Howe smacked a two-out single into right to make it a 7-2 game for Chatham.

The Anglers didn’t score again until the ninth, when Watters drove home Barrett with a single. They had two hits in the game’s final three innings. Raineri held the Red Sox scoreless, and Tate Carey (Michigan) did the same after he replaced him in the eighth.

But it didn’t matter as long as Chatham’s bats were asleep. And they never really woke up.

“What I look at is just competitive at bats: Are we competing at the plate? Are we getting good swings? Are we swinging at good pitches? Are we on time? Are we balanced?” Cook said postgame. “And right now, I would say the majority of our guys are not.”