LINESCORE
CANADIAN BASEBALL LEAGUE
London 203 100 011— 8 12 0
Barrie 000 000 000— 0 4 1
Pimentel (W,5-3), Cassie (6), Douglas (7), Davidson (8), Janisse (9) and De Oleo;
Benítez (L,2-4), Vasquez (3), Rosario (5), Pakkala (7), Grieveson (9) and Ciprian.
HRs: Ldn — Inoa 2 (13), Escotto (11); Bar — None.
OTHER SCORES
Guelph 10 Brantford 4
Hamilton 14 Toronto 13
Josh Matlow didn't need to look at the scoreboard to know something was wrong with his team.
"I saw it, I smelt it, I felt it."
Forty-five minutes after the Barrie Baycats (20-13) were shut out 8-0 by the London Majors (25-11) on Wednesday night, players and coaches remained behind closed doors in their clubhouse at Athletic Kulture Stadium discussing a problem their manager believes extends beyond one loss.
Matlow says throughout the game, the players' body language noticeably changed as they were held to a season-low four hits on the night in what was the first time they were shutout this season.
He added that several players threw equipment in frustration, behaviour he called unacceptable.
"That's not who we are," he told Barrie360 postgame. "If we don't shape up, we're gonna find ourselves in the four-five dogfight (single-game playoff), and we don't want to do that... I keep urging the guys, but I can't swing their bats and I can't make their pitches."
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While he didn't divulge details about what exactly what was said during the meeting, Matlow explained each player spoke their mind, airing their frustrations openly with one another, which was well-needed.
"This is all about culture and about growing as, not only baseball players, but men, and that's what's important to me and the coaching staff," he said. "We're getting away from that unity that that has made us so strong."
Before the season, players frequently pointed to the club's chemistry and unity as one of its greatest strengths. After Wednesday's loss, Matlow said restoring that mindset had become one of his biggest priorities.
His comments came shortly after one Baycats player approached team staff to question an official scoring decision that affected his individual statistics following the loss.
"It's not something we want to continue," Matlow explained. "We wanted to kind of nip that in the bud and move forward from it, but learn from it and and get better."
The meeting came after another frustrating night against the Majors, who have now beaten Barrie in all five matchups this season.
Barrie had opportunities early, but couldn't convert them into runs, leaving baserunners in scoring position in each of the first four innings. From that point forward, the Baycats didn't have another runner reach second base.
"It's discouraging for sure," Matlow said. "That's not how do you want to start a month."
Majors starter Cesilio Pimentel (5-3) eventually earned the win, allowing just four hits and two walks while striking out five through five shutout innings.
Meanwhile, the Majors jumped on Baycats starter Juan Benítez (2-4), scoring five runs on six hits over 2.1 innings, including two two-run home runs by Cristian Inoa.
"We just didn't want to keep unraveling," Matlow said on the decision to pull Benítez early. "It's hard enough to come back from (down) five runs. We didn't want to leave him out there high and dry, and obviously he didn't have his best stuff."
Maikol Escotto also homered in the fourth before adding another RBI on an eighth-inning sacrifice fly. Eduardo de Oleo and Jordan Lewis had RBIs as well, with Lewis' coming on a ninth-inning triple.
The win for London is its fourth-straight and gives it sole possession of first place in the CBL by half a game, while Barrie fell to fourth place, 3.5 games back.
Wednesday's game was rescheduled from July 18 after issues with the field conditions prevented it being played on the originally-scheduled date.
UP NEXT
The Baycats visit Welland to face the Jackfish on Thursday. Frank Garcés (5-2, 3.86 ERA) will start for Barrie, while Teodoro Ortega will take the mound for Welland (4-2, 3.95).
London hosts the Jackfish on Friday.
