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The hitters couldn't see.
The early evening creates shadows, which make it difficult for batters to pick up the spin of the ball. They can't tell fastballs from breaking balls and end up taking a bunch of ugly swings.
With these conditions in place for the Barnstormers and rival York Revolution, one scoreless inning was followed by another Sunday.
Until the sixth.
That's when Ryan Mulhern saw well enough. The outfielder belted a grand slam to spark a five-run rally as the Barnstormers earned a 9-2 win at Sovereign Bank Stadium.
"That inning I swung at one and thought, 'Man, that thing just disappeared," Mulhern said.
"The next pitch, I just tried to stay on it, just tried to think where it was going to break. It just happened so quick. Afterward, I thought, 'Well, that was a curveball. I was just trying to hit it right up the middle."
Mulhern lifted a fly ball to left-center. It disappeared over the wall, just to the right of the ballpark's 37-foot Green Monster.
York starter Daryl Harang was working on a gem before everything quickly unraveled.
The lefthander, who is the younger brother of Cincinnati Reds starter Aaron Harang, pitched himself into a bases-loaded, no-out jam. He struck out Mike Woods and Aaron Herr and was one pitch from escaping the threat unscathed.
Harang then walked Gerard Haran to force home a run and snap the scoreless tie. Mulhern followed with a game-changing grand slam. It came on a hanging curve with the count 0-2.
"This game is so ironic," Barnstormers manager Von Hayes said. "Obviously, it's tough for the hitters to see under these conditions. You take the guy on our team that probably strikes out the most and he's down 0-2 and he's the one that sees the ball the best."
Barnstormers starter Jason Scobie outdueled Harang. The righthander took a shutout into the eighth before York scored its two runs.
Scobie had only pitched two innings over the previous 13 days. He was knocked out of action when he took a hard ground ball off his non-throwing hand on June 7.
The 6-1, 195-pound righthander returned Friday to retire one batter in a relief role. This start was necessitated by injuries, but Scobie turned it into his best outing of the season.
The Barnstormers had to put two pitchers — Trey Hodges and Spike Lundgren — on the disabled list Saturday, the same day they played a day-night doubleheader.
Scobie's performance saved a worn-down staff.
"It was huge," Hayes said. "We weren't sure what we were going to get out of him after not pitching for a few days. He threw strikes, kept the ball down and just did a tremendous job for us."
Mulhern played a role in keeping the game scoreless heading into the sixth. He had two assists from left field. The first nailed Kennard Jones trying to stretch a leadoff single into a double. The second cut down Jeff Eure trying to score from second on a single.
It was an impressive display of defense coming from a guy who has played mostly first base during his career.
Although the Barnstormers eventually tacked on some insurance runs after the shadows disappeared in the later innings, Mulhern's slam was the turning point Sunday.
"Scobie was pitching well and we were getting a lot of breaks in the field," Mulhern said. "There was a pickoff, throwing a guy out at home, double plays. When that stuff happens, you need to capitalize and get some runs. If we don't get any runs there, our luck is running out."
The Barnstormers improved to 24-25. They are 5-1 against their Route 30 rivals this season with all six games having been played in York.
E-mail: jguarante@lnpnews.com
