Cyclones 7
Staten Island 5
August 18 at Staten Island
What a rally.
The Cardiac Clones took down the hated Staten Island Yankees 7–5 on Thursday night – battling back from a five-run deficit. It was a much-needed win, particularly after Brooklyn fell apart in the ninth inning the game before.
“We gave one away [on Wednesday] night,” Cyclones skipper Tom Gamboa said. “But we certainly came back very nicely today.”
Justin Dunn pitched a 1-2-3 first, but ran into trouble in the second. Timmy Robinson led off with a single and moved to third on Kane Sweeney’s single to left. Sweeney took second on the throw to third.
Dalton Blaser then hit a grounder to second which was bobbled by Jay Jabs – making a rare appearance at the position. Robinson scored, Sweeney went to third and Blaser reached with still nobody out. Angel Aguilar’s single to left scored Sweeney to give Staten Island a 2–0 lead. Dunn uncorked a wild pitch to advance the runners and Kendall Coleman’s single scored Blaser. Ben Ruta wrapped up the offensive outburst with a sacrifice fly to score Aguilar and give the Yankees a 4–0 lead after two innings.
The Yankees extended the lead as Drew Bridges led off the third with a homer to deep center. Dunn gave up five runs – three earned – on five hits and struck out four in three innings of work.
“It was a strange outing for Dunn because his stuff looked electric in the first inning and then in the second and third he was throwing too many balls in the middle of the plate,” Gamboa said.
Austin DeCarr pitched three shutout innings before Brooklyn got on the board in the fourth. With one out, Desmond Lindsay reached on an infield single and Colby Woodmansee walked. A wild pitch advanced the runners and a Blake Tiberi single to right scored Lindsay. Woodmansee was thrown out at home.
Brooklyn added a few more runs in the fifth. Jay Jabs singled, moved to second on a passed ball and advanced to third on a ground out.
Hengelbert Rojas worked a walk off reliever Claudio Custodio and then Gene Cone’s single past third scored Jabs. Another wild pitch scored Rojas and moved Cone to second. With Cone on third and two outs, Lindsay hit a grounder to third, which Bridges tried to backhand instead of getting in front of the ball. The ball went under his glove as Cone scored to cut the lead to 5–4.
Raul Jacobson pitched four shutout innings to keep the Cyclones in the game.
The Cyclones took the lead in the eighth as Lindsay reached on a one-out error by Nick Solak when the second baseman couldn’t field a sharp one-hopper. Staten Island’s Chad Taylor got Blake Tiberi on a fly out, but then walked Darryl Knight to load the bases.
Taylor threw a wild pitch – with Jabs at the plate – which scored Lindsay with the tying run. Jabs then looped a 1–2 pitch just in front of the left fielder to score two runs and give the Cyclones a 7–5 lead.
“It wasn’t pretty but we’ll take it,” Gamboa said of the go-ahead hit. “It was hit so poorly that it didn’t get to the left fielder.”
In a big shutdown inning, Adam Atkins retired the side in order in the eighth. Joseph Zanghi gave up two hits in the ninth, but struck out Bridges swinging to end the game.
“It’s a sign of a team with character, after losing a game like last night and down 5-0 early, we didn’t just throw in the towel,” Gamboa said.
The 31–27 Cyclones take on the Evil Empire of the New York-Penn League at 7 pm on Friday in Staten Island.
UPS AND DOWNS
Nick Sergakis will miss the rest of the season with a hairline fracture of the scapula. The Cyclones have already lost Pete Alonso and Jacob Zanon for the rest of 2016.
Taylor Henry was hit in the face by a ball in batting practice but is ok.
