Box Score

BELLINGHAM — The Bellingham Bells fell to the Port Angeles Lefties 2-1 in a close battle on Friday, July 10 at Joe Martin Field. The two-run seventh inning by the Lefties was enough to top Bellingham in the first game of a three-game set.

The game was mainly a pitcher’s duel between the Port Angeles starter Xander Cypher and a combination of Bells. Charlie Decker had the first three innings and delivered another scoreless start. Decker’s ERA is now 1.87 as the All-Star didn’t walk a batter while striking out two.

Cypher shut down the Bells despite allowing four hits, two walks and three hit-by-pitches. The Bells left 11 total runners on base with seven of those runners in scoring position. 

JJ Martinson’s first three innings of relief were just as stellar as Decker’s as he only allowed one baserunner until the seventh. In the seventh, the Lefties had three hits and surrendered two runs. He finished four innings with four strikeouts, but was tagged with the loss.

Bellingham initially halted the momentum from the Lefties with a run in the bottom of the seventh. Rominic Quiban led off the inning with a double and scored on a base hit from Jake Lyall. 

Everett Swaim had a scoreless eighth and ninth inning of relief, but the Bells left two runners in scoring position on base in the bottom of the eighth and left the tying run at third in the bottom of the ninth.

Bellingham fell to 20-14 while Port Angeles improved to 8-25. Jaden Jakson and Lyall led Bellingham with two hits each as Lyall had the lone RBI. Nate Johnson, Noah Cassie, Dillon Moss and Quiban all had one hit each in the loss.

The Bells aim to tie the series in tomorrow’s 6:35 p.m. game against the Lefties. There’ll be post-game fireworks following the game, so secure your tickets at bellstickets.com.