Cyclones 3
Aberdeen 2
July 21 at MCU Park
The Cardiac Clones held on for a 3–2 victory over Aberdeen on Thursday at MCU Park.
Second baseman Michael Paez was the hero of the night when he threw out Aberdeen’s Jaylan Ferguson at home to end the game. It was a picture-perfect finish to a final inning that was anything but.
“It was a real good game for eight innings,” Brooklyn manager Tom Gamboa said. “The ninth inning was ugly and unacceptable.”
Brooklyn starter Harol Gonzalez and Aberdeen starter Lucas Humpal were dominant from the get-go, as neither squad scored in the first four innings. Humpal pitched three perfect innings, striking out five, before leaving the game.
Cody Dube pitched a scoreless fourth, but Brooklyn broke the scoreless tie in the fifth. Pete Alonso led off with a single – the first hit of the game for the Cyclones. Ali Sanchez followed with a perfectly executed hit-and-run single to advance Alonso to third. Blake Tiberi then singled to right, scoring Alonso with the game’s first run. Jacob Zannon connected on a single to load the bases, but Brooklyn couldn’t pad its lead as Dobe worked the final three outs of the frame.
Xavier Borde took the mound for the IronBirds in the sixth and Paez extended the lead with a solo home run – his first as a pro – to begin the inning.
“Me and the staff have been working on my swing,” Paez said. “I struggled a little bit at the beginning so I’ve just been working at it and I got a good pitch to hit.”
Colby Woodmansee singled and Alonso drew a walk, bringing an end to Borde’s night.
Facing Andrew Elliott, Sanchez grounded into a force out, moving Woodmansee to third. A sacrifice fly from Tiberi scored Woodmansee to extend the lead to 3–0.
Gonzalez pitched seven-and-two-thirds innings of shutout ball for the Cyclones as the righty gave up five hits, walked one and struck out nine. Brooklyn’s bullpen, however, struggled down the stretch.
Joseph Zanghi got the last out of the eighth, but couldn’t hold on in the ninth. He surrendered two walks to bring the tying run to the plate with two outs. Gamboa called on Austin McGeorge to try and get the final, but Ferguson’s double scored a run and put the tying runs in scoring position.
“The ball to center is usually a routine out, but the fact that the tying run was at the plate, we were in a no-doubles defense because we didn’t want to let the game get away from us,” Gamboa said.
Another walk loaded the bases for Seamus Curran. Curran hit a grounder to second which Paez mishandled. He looked to first, but didn’t have time to throw out Curran, as a run scored to make it 3–2. Ferguson tried scoring from second, but Paez alertly threw home to nail Ferguson and end the game.
“I kind of thought maybe I had time to go to first because of the big hit, but I didn’t see anybody to let me know I had time or anything, so my first instinct was I saw the play in front of me,” Paez said.
The 15-18 Cyclones will take on Aberdeen on Friday at 7 pm.
