MARTHA’S VINEYARD, Mass. — It was an historic day for the Old Orchard Beach Raging Tide, as the team played its first playoff game in franchise history. A game that will long be in the record book was a short one, as the Tide scored a run in the bottom of the second and held on to beat Pittsfield 1-0 in a play-in game that lasted just 1:58.

The Raging Tide entered the playoffs as the No. 4 seed, and played fifth-seeded Pittsfield at the home park of the top-seeded Martha’s Vineyard Sharks. The winner of the play-in game ”“ which ended up being the Tide ”“ then had to face the Sharks later Sunday night. The Raging Tide fell behind early before a late rally ended up falling short in a 4-3 loss.

The unusual playoff set-up made for a strange play-in game, as the seats at Vineyard Baseball Park were mostly empty with two opposing teams facing off.

“The atmosphere was just weird,” said Raging Tide manager Chris Torres. “Everybody came off the bus weird, and in that weirdness, they were relaxed. It obviously showed on the field.”

Despite holding a one-run lead from the second inning on, Torres said the team looked relaxed throughout the game, and that allowed the Tide to play mostly clean baseball.

It also helped having starting pitcher Evan Brisentine toss eight shutout innings. Brisentine scattered seven hits and struck out seven batters, while not walking a single batter.

“It’s huge. His last four starts, he’s been lights out. I gave him the ball knowing that Evan would do the job,” said Torres. “And he did the job better than I imagined.”

The Raging Tide offense was only able to muster five hits, but one of those helped lead to the lone run. Matt Pagano led off the bottom of the second by reaching on an error by second baseman Frank Crinella. Brian Doran then singled, and Tito Lluberes walked to load the bases. Fran Whitten then grounded into a 6-3 double play, but it was enough to score Pagano.

Closer Tyler Pogmore came on to pitch in the top of the ninth, with the Tide still holding onto that 1-0 lead, and put two runners on before getting Luke Reynolds to fly out to right to end the game.

“If you had told me we were going to win 1-0, I would have said ”˜you’re (kidding) me,’” said Torres. “We’re an exciting team, and you never know what’s going to happen.”

After the nail-biter, the Tide had a couple hours to get ready for game one of its best-of-three semifinal series against the Sharks. The break ended up cooling down an already tame Tide offense, as OOB was held scoreless through the first six innings.

Martha’s Vineyard took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second on a Chris Miller RBI-single. The Sharks then extended that lead to 4-0 in the fourth on a Bret Holmgren sacrifice fly, followed by a Miller two-run home run.

The Raging Tide made it interesting late in the game, starting with a two-out, solo home run by Whitten in the top of the seventh. The Tide then cut the lead to one run in the top of the eighth, as the top four hitters in the batting order led off with consecutive singles, with Phil Sciretta and Doran driving in runs.

The bottom five hitters in the Tide order couldn’t keep up, however, as Whitten’s blast was the lone hit outside of the top four hitters. By the time leadoff hitter Graham McIntire got back up to bat, there were two outs in the top of the ninth, and McIntire struck out against Sharks reliever Matt Calamoneri to end the game.

The Raging Tide return to The Ballpark today for game two of the series, and potentially the final game of the season. It will be the first home playoff game in franchise history, and the first playoff game at The Ballpark since the Maine Guides lost to the Tidewater Tides in the 1985 International League playoffs.

The Raging Tide host Martha’s Vineyard at 7 o’clock tonight. Gats open at 6 p.m.

— Staff Writer Wil Kramlich can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 323. Follow him on Twitter @WilTalkSports.