Zach Rutherford earned All-Star Game West MVP honors.
The last big trip for the Summer Nine book project kept me from posting the last few days. With the Cape League All-Star Game in the books and the stretch run looming, time to play some catch-up.
A year after a 1-0 score in the All-Star Game, pitching dominated again – but only for one side as the West won 8-0 in Chatham. While the East didn’t have an extra-base hit, three West players hit home runs and two of the same also doubled. Falmouth’s Tyler Lawrence went 3-for-4 with two RBI and Zach Rutherford of Hyannis went 3-for-3 with two RBI.
The West did its damage against two pitchers you wouldn’t have pegged for tough innings. Joe Ryan, who gave up three in the third, has a 0.92 ERA for Orleans and came in having allowed three runs all summer. Harwich’s Zach Schellenger, who was also tagged for three runs, has one of the league’s biggest arms.
The most impressive inning of the day belonged to Garrett Cave of Hyannis. The hard-throwing closer struck out the side in the eighth on 17 pitches. D1Baseball.com says Cave was the top pitcher on display.
Rutherford earned West MVP honors with his 3-for-3 day. The Old Dominion infielder has been terrific all summer, and there’s a chance the All-Star Game MVP award won’t be his only such trophy. Hitting .299 with a .460 slugging percentage and a league-best 11 doubles, Rutherford is a league MVP candidate in a year without a clear-cut choice.
In the return to regular-season play Sunday, Hyannis followed its big showing in the All-Star Game with a trip back to Veterans Field and a 3-0 victory over Chatham. Andrew Gonzalez (Michigan State) went 6.1 scoreless innings and Cave notched his 10th save with another strike-out-the-side inning.
Y-D also notched a shutout in a battle for first place with Harwich and now has a one-game lead on the Mariners in the East. The Red Sox are playing .742 baseball — a 23-8 record — since starting the year 0-5.
Bourne beat Orleans for its second straight win and is tied with Hyannis for third place in the West. More importantly, both the Braves and Harbor Hawks now have a nine-point edge on Cotuit for the final playoff spot in the West.
After an off-day around the league today, teams will play their final eight games in nine days to close out the regular season. The playoffs begin Aug. 5.
