Cyclones 6
Aberdeen 2
July 13 at Aberdeen
The Cyclones used seven innings from Gabriel Llanes and a pair of homers to get back to .500 with a 6–2 win at Aberdeen on Wednesday night.
Michael Paez – making his debut with Brooklyn – led off with a walk against Travis Seabrooke in the first inning. Peter Alonso followed up two batters later with his first professional home run to give the Cyclones an early two-run lead.
Aberdeen tied the game in the third. Back to back singles off Llanes put runners on the corners with nobody out. A force out scored Stuart Levy for the first run. A single by Cole Billingsley – one of his three hits on the night – put runners on the corner again. Billingsley then attempted to steal second, but was caught running. His 90-foot dash, however, gave Collin Woody enough time to sprint home and notch the IronBirds’ second run of the night.
The Cyclones took back the lead on Jacob Zanon’s homer to lead off the fourth. With one out, Sanchez doubled and then came around to score on a single from Jay Jabs to make it 4–2.
Zanon’s impressive night continued in the fifth when he worked a two-out walk before stealing second and third. He scored on an Alonso single to make it 5–2. The Brooklyn outfielder came through again in the seventh as his two-out double scored Paez from first.
Zanon, Alonso and Paez collected two hits apiece. Eight of the Brooklyn starters had at least one hit.
Llanes – who had been a tough-luck loser early this season – picked up his first win. The right-hander gave up two runs on seven hits in seven innings while striking out seven.
Austin McGeorge pitched a scoreless eighth and Gary Cornish pitched a scoreless ninth.
The 13–13 Cyclones will try to go over .500 when they take on the Lowell Spinners at MCU Park at 7 pm on Thursday.
UPS AND DOWNS
Paez was on Coastal Carolina, winners of the 2016 College World Series.
Brooklyn has won four games in a row. With a win on Thursday, the Cyclones would be over .500 for the first time in 2016.
