After some first inning fireworks, the Arlington Pond Rats were unable to deliver the key hit, stranding several runners in scoring position in a 7-3 loss against Medford on Wednesday night at the Summer Street Field in Arlington.
"That's what's been going on with us all year long," said Arlington manager Jim Robillard. "We haven't been able to string some hits together. Five or six straight hits would be nice, but we can't seem to do it. It will come around. You get a little bad luck, but it changes. We've been leaving a lot of guys on base."
Medford took an early 2-0 lead on a Tyler Finigan home run in the first inning, but Arlington responded with two runs of its own in the bottom of the frame. John Powers and David Largenton each knocked in a run, as Arlington battled back to tie the game at 2.
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However, the Pond Rats managed to score just one more run the rest of the way - on an error - as Medford starting pitcher Chris Salvati was able to silence the Arlington bats in a complete game effort.
"He's a pretty good pitcher, but that's the way things have been going for us," said Robillard of his team's offensive woes. "Ground ball up the middle bounces back to the second baseman, line drive off the pitcher ends the game, there's nothing you can do. If it's going to happen, it's going to happen, but those things are going to even out hopefully."
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Meanwhile, Arlington (5-8) got an up and down effort from starting pitcher Byron Johnson, who also pitched a complete game. Johnson struck out 10 batters and gave up nine hits, while working with runners on base all game long.
"He got out of some major jams that he got into," said Robillard of his pitcher, who was unable to record a single 1-2-3 inning. "That's a good hitting team over there. I thought he pitched pretty well."
After a shaky first inning, Johnson ran into more trouble in the second, giving up an RBI double to Salvati and an RBI single to Kyle Malin, putting Arlington behind 4-2. He gave up just one more run until the seventh, when Justin Daal and Anthony Fusco each had RBI's to put Medford on top 7-3.
Despite the recent slide, Robillard looks for his team to turn things around in the near future.
"The pitching hasn't been bad, the defense has been decent, we've just got to get going a little bit more on the offense."
