Lowell 7
Cyclones 3
July 15 at MCU Park
Brooklyn starter Merandy Gonzalez could never get into a rhythm on the mound as the Cyclones fell 7–3 to Lowell on Friday night at MCU Park.
Gonzalez gave up five runs in six innings and was unable to hold on to an early lead.
“We could see from the get-go that he just wasn’t sharp tonight,” Gamboa said of Gonzalez’s performance. “A lot of deep counts. His stuff was ok, but it seemed like we were going 2–2, 3–2 on every hitter. It felt like we were in the second game of a doubleheader when it got to the sixth.”
The Spinners wasted no time getting on the board. Steven Reveles led off with a single, moved to second on a Chris Madera single, advanced to third on a double play and scored as Gonzalez bounced a wild pitch to the backstop.
Lowell padded its lead in the second as Jerry Downs was hit by a pitch, advanced on Victor Acosta’s single and scored on Carlos Tovar’s single to make it 2–0.
Brooklyn got on the board in the third. Michael Paez got it started with a double to deep center off Spinners starter Darwinzon Hernandez. Nick Sergakis reached on a throwing error by Tovar, putting runners on the corners. Jacob Zanon’s sacrifice fly to center scored Paez to cut the lead to 2–1. A Pete Alonso walk and Colby Woodmansee groundout put runners on second and third with two out. Dan Rizzie came through with a two-run double down the third base line to give the Cyclones a 3–2 lead.
“I was just looking for something up in the zone to drive,” Rizzie said. “He started me off with two breaking balls and I figured he’d come with the fastball at some point, and he did.”
That was as much offense as the Cyclones would be able to muster. Other than the third inning, Brooklyn was held to two hits, with one of them coming with two outs in the ninth.
Gonzalez couldn’t hold the lead as Downs singled and Tucker Tubbs walked to begin the fourth. A sacrifice bunt put them at second and third. Downs scored on Tovar’s sacrifice fly to tie the game before Isaias Lucena followed with a run-scoring single to give Lowell a 4–3 lead.
Madera led off the fifth with a homer to extend the lead to 5–3.
In the eighth, Lowell loaded the bases with two outs for Reveles. Reveles hit a slow grounder to second, but Paez’s throw wasn’t on target and got past the first baseman as two insurance runs scored on the error to make it 7–3.
Gamboa noted that Paez didn’t set his feet, leading to the miscue.
“Running toward the foul line, he tried to throw on the run and that’s what’s gonna happen,” the Cyclones skipper said. “It’s like a quarterback rolling out one way and throwing the other.”
Daniel Zandona and Algenis Martinez combined to shut out Brooklyn for the final five-and-one-third innings. Zandona picked up the win with two innings of relief and Martinez recorded the save.
The 13–15 Cyclones look to avoid a sweep when they host Lowell at 6 pm on Saturday.
UPS AND DOWNS
Gene Cone will likely miss Saturday’s game as he looks to get back to full health.
“When you get jammed with a wooden bat, you get a bond bruise on your thumb that you don’t ever experience with aluminum,” Gamboa said. “Gene got jammed a number of times and got a real deep set bruise to the point where, he’s a gamer, and he had to come out of a game at Batavia.”
