Cyclones 5
Batavia 1
July 5 at Batavia
Joel Huertas pitched four innings of shutout relief for the victory as Brooklyn beat Batavia 5–1 on Tuesday.
Batavia took a first inning lead as Corey Bird reached on a leadoff bunt single, moved to second on a Nabil Crismatt wild pitch, advanced to third on a fly out, and scored on another wild pitch. Crismatt would throw a third wild pitch later in the inning.
With runners on second and third, Jhonny Santos hit a liner to Blake Tiberi at third, scoring the Muckdogs run.
Brooklyn entered the fifth inning with just one hit, but that changed in the top of the stanza. Dan Rizzie led off with a single and Darryl Knight followed with one of his own. Hengelbert Rojas hit a grounder to short, which Samuel Castro threw to second to get one out. Rony Cabrera’s throw to first was off the mark and the E4 allowed Rizzie to score and tie the game.
The Cyclones went ahead in the sixth. Connor Bach entered the game for Batavia, but left his control in the bullpen. Bach walked Sergakis and a wild pitch moved him to second. Then Bach hit Jay Jabs in the helmet with a fastball – forcing Jabs to come out of the game – although he never went down. Another wild pitch moved the runners to second and third. A walk to Jacob Zanon loaded the bases with nobody out.
Tiberi’s sacrifice fly gave Brooklyn a 2–1 lead. Another walk loaded he bases and ended Bach’s night. Shane Sawczak entered and got Knight on an inning-ending double play.
Huertas hit Aaron Knapp to begin the bottom of the seventh for Batavia. Santos laid down a bunt, but catcher Dan Rizzie came up throwing to get the lead runner at second. After a strikeout, Pablo Garcia doubled to left and Santos tried scoring. Rojas hit cutoff man Dale Burdick who threw home in time to get Santos and preserve the lead.
Brooklyn added another run in the eighth. Sergakis greeted Chad Smith with a double, moved to third on a groundout and scored on Zanon’s sacrifice fly.
The Cyclones were able to put the game out of reach in the ninth against Brent Wheatley. Knight singled, Rojas was hit by a pitch and Dale Burdick walked to load the bases with nobody out. Sacrifice flies by Arnaldo Berrios and Sergakis put Brooklyn up 5–1.
Struggling as a starter, Huertas pitched four innings of shutout ball, giving up two hits and striking out four.
Adam Atkins replaced Huertas and pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to end the game.
The 9–10 Cyclones look to get back to .500 with a win over Batavia on Wednesday night.
UPS AND DOWNS
Former Cyclone Jose Reyes went hitless in four at-bats in his first game as a Met since 2011. There were no balls hit his way at third base.
Nick Sergakis and Darryl Knight had two hits apiece for Brooklyn.
