I don’t usually like to cover the same ground over and over again in the Daily Fog. But sometimes you have to compromise.
When Sean Manaea (Indiana State) pitches, it’s hard for anybody else to make headlines.
Manaea continued his huge season — and his great recent stretch — with another dominant performance last night. He struck out nine, didn’t walk anybody and allowed just two hits in six shutout innings as Hyannis beat Brewster 4-1.
Manaea now has 75 strikeouts, six walks and a 1.44 ERA on the year. In his last four starts — when he’s gone from having a good season to having a historic season — Manaea is 4-0 with 45 strikeouts, zero walks and a 0.35 ERA.
So yeah. Good luck making headlines against that.
At this point, I think everybody’s kind of running out of adjectives. It’s easier to just present facts like this one: last night, Manaea passed the Cape League strikeout totals of Major Leaguers Tim Lincecum, Andrew Miller and Tim Stauffer. Or this one: nobody in the league has thrown more innings, but 79 pitchers have walked more than Manaea’s six.
It’s getting pretty ridiculous. Manaea is in the midst of one of the great pitching seasons the Cape League has seen in recent history. And if anybody has had a better four-game stretch than Manaea’s run, I don’t know about it.
Last night was pretty typical. Manaea struck out the side in the first inning for the fifth consecutive game. He allowed just a bloop single and a bunt single in six innings. He threw 73 pitches, 55 for strikes, and probably would have gone deeper into the game if not for his upcoming all-star start.
And Hyannis, as it’s done in each of Manaea’s last five starts, won the game. If there’s anything to take out of last night other than more Manaea reflection, it’s that the Harbor Hawks are poised for a run. They’re now 14-19, tied with Falmouth for third place. If Manaea keeps doing anything close to what he’s been doing, it’s hard to imagine a long losing streak for Hyannis. David Garner and Jeff Hoffman have pitched very well of late, too, giving Hyannis a dynamic top of the rotation.
The offense is getting it done, as well. Dominic Jose (Stanford) hit his team-leading sixth home run, five of which have come in his last 11 games. Brandon Trinkwon (UC Santa Barbara) and Mitchell Garver (New Mexico) added two hits each, while Brett Michael Doran (Stanford), Brad Zebedis (Presbyterian) and Jeff Schalk (UAB) all drove in runs.
And just as they did against Falmouth’s Trey Masek the last time Manaea pitched, the Harbor Hawks did much of their damage against a standout pitcher. Brewster’s Tom Windle (Minnesota) struck out four and allowed two runs in five innings.
One More Time
The Harwich Mariners may be disappointed that last night marked their final regular-season meeting with the Orleans Firebirds.
I don’t think they’d mind playing Orleans every night.
The Mariners beat the Firebirds 7-5 last night, their fifth victory over Orleans in five tries. The only thing keeping Harwich from a season sweep was a 5-4 Orleans victory on the fourth day of the season.
Since then, these match-ups — which have been the league’s marquee match-ups several times — have been all Harwich.
This time, the Mariners trailed 3-2 going into the seventh but came through with four runs and never looked back. JaCoby Jones (LSU) had a two-run single and Matt Reida (Kentucky) delivered a two-run double to power the rally. Harwich added a run in the eighth on a Brett Austin (NC State) home run.
C.K. Irby (Samford) was impressive in relief, recording six of his seven outs by strikeout on his way to the win. Tyler Burgess (Missouri State) got the save.
Harwich improved to 21-12, two games better than Orleans and Y-D, who are tied for second.
Elsewhere
What to Watch
Three make-up games on the schedule tonight, including two interesting West match-ups. Hyannis visits Falmouth for a 6:30 start, while Cotuit travels to Wareham at 7 p.m.
The Canada geese were back at McKeon Field last night, prompting the playing of O Canada after The Star Spangled Banner. They remained in deep right center until the top of the third, when three more flew in and landed in shallow left center. before the inning was over, the geese from right center joined the geese in shallow left, and now they posed a threat to interfere with the game, so between innings some Hyannis players chased them off.
With Manaea pitching, they could have stayed where they were.