Lowell 4
Cyclones 0
July 16 at MCU Park
Brooklyn’s bats were silenced in a 4-0 loss to Lowell on Saturday night at MCU Park. It was the second shutout in the series and it’s starting to feel like 2015 with the lack of production from the Cyclones lineup.
“I keep saying that I think there’s better personnel on this team, but certainly the averages after 29 games don’t lie,” manager Tom Gamboa said. “We’re right there where we were a year ago at the bottom of the pack.”
Lowell took the lead against Brooklyn starter Nabil Crismatt in the second. Victor Acosta led off with a single, moved to second on a groundout and scored on Carlos Tovar’s single to center.
Crismatt settled down after that – and retired nine batters in a row – before designated hitter Tyler Hill led off the sixth with a home run.
Crismatt gave up two runs in six innings and struck out five.
“I tried to do what I had to do and what I know how to do” Crismatt said. “I tried to do my best. Today was not the day for the hitters, but I know the team is pretty good right now. And there’s a good staff pitching for [Lowell].”
The Cyclones lone scoring chance came in the sixth. Arnaldo Berrios and Jay Jabs drew walks, bringing Jacob Zanon to the plate with runners at first and second and one out. Zanon hit a soft liner to short which was snagged by Tovar. Berrios was caught off second and Tovar dove to the base and slapped it with his glove to end the inning.
Gamboa called it the play “that killed us,” especially with power-hitter Pete Alonso on-deck.
“That was such an easy ball to read,” Gamboa said. “They tell me last year at Kingsport [Berrios] was the worst base runner and had all kinds of problems. And we spent every day of the two months we were in Florida talking about base running, working on base running.”
Berrios was also thrown out at second in the eighth trying to stretch a single into a double, although credit should be given to Lowell right fielder Chris Madera for making a perfect throw on a line.
Adam Atkins entered to pitch the seventh for the Cyclones and the Spinners used the change to help pad the lead. Yoan Aybar hit a tapper back to Atkins, but the righty’s underhand flip to first went over Alonso’s head for a two-base error.
“That’s something I’ve never seen before,” Gamboa said. “You’ve got a topped ball to first and all you’ve got to do is just underhand it to the guy and I don’t know what the hell happened.”
The error came back to haunt Brooklyn. With two on and two out, Madera’s single to center scored Aybar. Two batters later, Roldani Baldwin’s run-scoring single gave Lowell a 4–0 lead.
Josh Pennington (five-and-one-third innings), Matthew Gorst (one-and-two-thirds innings) and Kuehl McEachern (two innings) combined to shutout the Cyclones.
The 13–16 Cyclones look to get back in the win column when they travel to Hudson Valley for a 5:05 pm game with the Renegades on Sunday.
UPS AND DOWNS
Over the first 16 home games, only once has a Cyclones starting pitcher recorded a victory.
First-round pick Justin Dunn didn’t pitch on Saturday. He had been throwing two innings on every sixth day. The Cyclones have gone to a six-man rotation. According to Gamboa, Dunn will pitch behind Joel Huertas on Sunday, and then will start every sixth day for three innings per start.
