Aberdeen IronBirds 6
Cyclones 3
July 24 at MCU Park
The lowly Aberdeen IronBirds once again toppled the pride of Coney Island as starter Rainy Lara blew a two-run Clones lead and reliever Tim Peterson put the team even deeper in the hole.
The Mini-Mets pulled ahead in the fourth inning after shortstop Philip Evans singled to left field and IronBirds starter David Richardson plunked catcher Kevin Plawecki. A double by left fielder Stefan Sabol sent Evans home. Richardson then walked first baseman Jayce Boyd and center fielder Brandon Nimmo to drive in Plawecki.
But in the top of the sixth, Lara — who’d struck out five and given up just two hits up to that point — threw a home run ball to right fielder Lucas Herbst, putting the IronBirds on the board. Lara then surrendered a single to third baseman Torsten Boss and a double to first baseman Cameron Edman to send Boss home and tie the game at two.
Cyclones skipper Rich Donnelly replaced Lara with Peterson to start the seventh, but soon regretted it. Peterson immediately let second baseman Creede Simpson pick up a single, then gave up a homer to catcher Sam Kimmel. Herbst came back up to the plate and slapped a line drive to right field for double, and rounded the bases on a ground ball single from designated hitter Christian Walker. Donnelly then yanked Peterson for Ernesto Yanez, who ended the inning, but the damage was done.
The Clones came up with another run in the next frame when right fielder Eudy Pina scored on a sacrifice by third baseman Dimas Ponce. But the team would get only one more hit the rest of the game, while the IronBirds padded their lead with a solo dinger by Edman in the eighth.
The Clones are now 9–10 at home for the season.
