By: Alec Henden

ORLEANS, Mass. – Through a half inning of play Tuesday evening an unfortunate familiar development emerged at Eldredge Park.

The Orleans Firebirds were trailing 2-0 as their best pitcher was ambushed with an early deficit with the team mired in a six-game skid. They were facing another divisional opponent who could’ve potentially catapulted them into last place with a loss.

Luckily for the Birds, their offense picked up the slack early and never looked back en route to a 6-3 victory over the Brewster Whitecaps.

After Adam Seminaris (Long Beach State) left after three taxing innings, the Birds turned to lefty Isaac Esqueda (Southern California) to give them effective length. Esqueda delivered for a team whose bullpen has been taxed and at times exposed throughout the losing streak, throwing six shutout innings to give the rest of the bullpen an off day in a dominating effort.

“I felt like I could throw my fastball in-and-out and the same with my curveball,” Esqueda said following his gem. “My slider was working I could throw it for a strike if I needed to and the changeup was working well in changing speeds.”

Esqueda’s performance was especially impressive considering Brewster’s track record of success against left-handed pitchers this season. The Whitecaps were able to knock down Seminaris but found no such luck against Esqueda.

“When Esqueda got rolling there was no reason to take him out,” Orleans manager Kelly Nicholson said. “I’m glad that he picked us up tonight. They’re a good hitting team against left-handers so you want to tip your cap a little bit more for Isaac.”

Orleans (12-10-2) took advantage of a rocky Cape League debut from Brewster’s starter Chance Huff (Vanderbilt). Huff was only able to record four outs as he walked four hitters and hit three with pitches.

In typical Firebirds fashion, they waited out the spotty command and struck when the opportunities were presented.

“We have a good offense,” Orleans outfielder Zach Britton (Louisville) said following a 2-for-4 night at the dish. “We’ve been a little bit cold of late, but that’s just baseball. He (Huff) has good stuff guys like that when they’re wild can be tough. We had some good at-bats and waited for a pitch to hit and scored some runs early which was a big boost for the rest of the game.”

Tuesday night’s win was crucial for the Birds for a variety of reasons. It broke their losing skid but gave them a bit of separation between a team that trails them in the standings.

Orleans has struggled against Y-D and Chatham halfway through the campaign, but if they can pick up wins against Brewster and Harwich they will put themselves in a good position to not miss out on the postseason in back-to-back seasons.

The Birds will now turn their attention to the Harwich Mariners. Orleans defeated the Mariners in both of their previous matchups in a home-and-home series.

Short Hops:

-Esqueda’s outing was the longest performance from any Firebird pitcher this season with his six innings of work.

-Jake Eder (Vanderbilt) will take the mound for the Firebirds against the Mariners. Eder will be making his first start for Orleans after winning the College World Series with the Commodores in June.

-Newly acquired outfielder Jacob Hurtubise (Army) excelled at the plate Tuesday night, going 1-for-3 while walk once and getting hit by a pitch. Hurtubise scored three runs in the first three innings and also stole four bases.