Red Sox shut down by Yankees

SOUTHWEST GLENDALE — Early in Wednesday’s Tri-Cities Major Baseball Tournament of Champions opening-round game at Pacific Park, the Vaquero Red Sox got their best shot to break something open against Tujunga Yankees pitcher Jake Cook.

The rocky top of the second inning, in which Cook walked five and gave up one run, was also the only chance the Red Sox would get to do some damage against the big righty, who settled in to allow just two more baserunners over the next three frames en route to combining with Austin Obregon on a no-hitter for a 3-1 win.

Meanwhile, Red Sox starter Cesar Zamarripa matched Cook 0 for 0 on the scoreboard, pitching three scoreless frames following a one-run first inning, until the Yankees broke the tie with two runs in the bottom of the fifth on a bases-loaded two-out fly ball by Mason Inumerable that was dropped in shallow left field.

“Just that one error at the end of the fifth inning kind of hurt us,” Red Sox Coach Juan Piedra said. “But, if you can’t get the bat moving, you can’t really do much.”

Yankees third baseman Jake Sergi was hit by a pitch to lead off the bottom of the fifth inning and was moved to second base on a one-out single through the middle of the infield by Obregon.

Zamarripa recorded the second out with his fourth strikeout of the game and gave Cook an intentional free pass to first to load the bases before giving way to reliever Manny Michel.

Inumerable worked the count full against Michel before sending a high fly ball to left that caused some confusion among the Red Sox fielders and gave the Yankees their first lead since holding a 1-0 advantage after the first inning.

That run was scored by catcher Chase Keough, who doubled down the left-field line with one out, took third with two outs on a wild pitch and crossed the plate on another wild offering two pitches later.

Daniel Gonzales led off the top of the second by drawing a four-pitch walk, the beginning of Cook’s only incident of struggling with his control.

Gonzales went to second on a wild pitch and stole third as Louie Piedra took ball four, but was thrown out trying to return to third base after making a move toward home.

Still, the Red Sox continued to take advantage of Cook, as Piedra advanced to third on two wild pitches to John Cuateco, who eventually walked on six pitches to put runners at the corners.

With Jacob Varela batting, Piedra scored on a wild pitch to tie the game. The second out of the inning came between walks issued to Varela and Michel, the latter of which loaded the bases.

But, with a groundout induced to second base, Cook quickly regained the strong form he would not lose for the remainder of his outing.

The Red Sox will play the loser of Wednesday’s first-round matchup between Crescenta Valley Landry’s and the Burbank D’Backs tonight at Babe Herman Field.

“We feel very good about coming from winning no games last year to even making it to Tri-Cities this year,” said Juan Piedra, whose squad went 11-9-2 this season. “It’s an accomplishment, even if we lose.”