Cyclones 4
Staten Island 3
July 17 on Staten Island
The Cyclones avoided a sweep and reclaimed sole possession of first place in the McNamara Division with a 4–3 win against the hated Staten Island Yankees.
Brooklyn’s stellar bullpen combined to throw four-and-one-third innings of shutout ball in relief of Kevin Canelon (four-and-two-thirds innings, three runs) to the delight of manager Tom Gamboa.
“Those guys are amazing,” said the Clones skipper.
So amazing that they were even able to stop the Yankees’ strapping right-fielder Jhalan “Action” Jackson when game was on the line.
Canelon was handed a 4–0 lead headed into the fifth, when it appeared he would earn an easy win. But three doubles, a wild pitch, a hit batsman, and two outs later, he was removed before the hot-hitting Jackson strode to the plate. In came Craig Missigman, who got Jackson to tap the first pitch back to the mound to end the threat.
Staten Island loaded the bases with one out in the sixth on an error by Vinny Siena and two singles, but Neither Gamboa nor pitching coach Dave LaRoche came out to speak to Missigman at this vital point of the game, to test the pitcher’s gumption.
“I never penalize a pitcher for not creating his own jam,” Gamboa said. “And we liked the way he was throwing.”
Missigman delivered, striking out Brandon Wagner and Junior Valera to end the inning.
Corey Taylor, P.J. Conlon, and Alex Palsha each pitched an inning of scoreless relief to finish off Staten Island.
It was just the way that Gamboa, who arrived to the ballpark at 5:45 due to terrorist threat bridge delays, drew it up.
“I called over here and gave Fonzie the lineup. I said ‘If I can’t get there and we got the lead after six, bring in Taylor, Conlon, Palsha.’ ”
A Brooklyn mistake actually gave the Cyclones a second-inning lead. With David Thompson at third and Zack Mathieu at first, third-base coach Yunir Garcia gave the wrong sign and Mathieu was caught stealing second.
However, Thompson came home on the throw to second.
Jeff Diehl’s two-run homer off Luis Cedeno in the fourth gave Brooklyn a 3–0 lead.
The Cyclones opened the fifth with a double by Hengelbert Rojas and a run-scoring single from Manuel Hilario.
Missigman picked up his first win while Palsha recorded his sixth save.
The 16–10 Cyclones return to MCU Park on Saturday for a 6 pm game against the Vermont Lake Monsters.
