It takes a special something to strike out 13 batters and still come away with a 5-3 loss.

This, of course, is not the "special" normally associated with winning an elite trophy or the moment in which you learn professional unicycling is, in fact, a potentially viable career (seriously; Google it).

No, this is the "special" that is finding a long-lost Derek Jeter rookie card moments after your lovable pit bull puppy found it first.

Haymarket Senators pitcher Taylor Robinson earned more strikeouts through 6.2 innings pitched Monday night at Battlefield High School than the other three Senators pitchers and all four Winchester Royals hurlers had combined (9).

For most of the summer season, Robinson had been relegated to relief pitching following so-so starts early on.

This time, in a "spot start", Robinson only walked one batter and kept the Royals off the scoreboard through the first four innings, striking out 11 out of 13 batters in the second, third and fourth innings.

"I came here tonight just wanting to throw strikes," said the UMass-Lowell sophomore, whose Massachusetts accent punches through the air with as much intensity as his fastball.

As for the two batters that didn't punch a K into their time sheet on the way back to the dug out?

Grounded out and reached on an error. Having an arsenal of a fastball, curveball, change up and slider -- the slider seemed to be Robinson's knock-out strike of choice -- can do that to college-age batters.

"It was unreal," said Winchester manager John Lowery, Sr. "We couldn't even put the ball" in play.

No-hitter through four; what could go wrong?

Well, there's the whole load the bases and leave them stranded thing.

Matt Marra, Ryan McBroom and Jimmy Dowdell all strung together singles in the bottom of the fourth inning, giving Haymarket its most significant scoring threat of the game to that point.

A fielder's choice ground out flipped to catch the runner at second base ended that threat and generated enough momentum for Winchester second baseman Gibby Briones to lead off the fifth with a double.

With a single by Alex Lakatos, Briones advanced to third base. Robinson seemed to regain form by punching out the next two Royal batters only for an RBI single by third baseman Cory Nelson to break the game open and give Winchester a 2-0 lead.

Haymarket left centerfielder Josh Boyd on first base bottom half of the sixth inning and Winchester responded with another double from Briones, this time driving in center fielder Ben Hammer.

"He was really the offensive catalyst for us tonight," said Lowery about Briones.

McBroom finally started a real rally for the Senators in the sixth inning with a one-out double, followed by a 2 RBI double by Matt Delewiski three batters later.

Chris Bresnahan got in on the extra-base action too with his own run-producing double, tying the game at 3-3.

Though the three doubles could have breathed new life into the Senators' offense, a lone single by Bresnahan in the bottom of the ninth would be all Haymarket had to offer at the plate.

Closing pitcher Lincoln Rassi struck out the side in the seventh, picked up two more Ks in the eighth as he retired the Senators in order, and collected one more strike out in the ninth while also forcing two deep fly outs to end the game.

And those shots went way back there, pushing the Royals outfielders right in front of the warning track in front of the "340" signs in both left and right field.

Alas, the Haymarket team is not designed to be like the Baltimore Orioles of the Earl Weaver era, whose game-winning strategy relied on pitching, defense and a three-run homer.

Robinson proved that the pitching was there. The lack of unearned runs crossing the plate suggests the defense is there, despite a couple errors.

"Giving up three runs as a starter usually isn't the worst thing," said Robinson.

It's the long ball that's not a part of Haymarket's repertoire this season.

However, "we do have the team to hit back-to-back doubles," said Haymarket manager Justin Aspegren.

The only problem then is trying to collect those doubles before opposing teams smack their own extra-base hits.

"We need to start mounting something early," said Aspegren. "The scoreboard dictates the offense."