The Cyclones took the rubber game of their three-game set with the State College Spikes, moving the team to just one game under .500 — though the team remained tied for last place in the McNamara Division, four games behind the hated (and hot) Staten Island Yankees.
Cyclones 7
Spikes 6
July 14 at Keyspan Park
A 14-hit barrage — including homers by Reese Havens and Zach Lutz — plus gutsy relief pitching paced the Cyclones to an exhilarating victory on “Pork Rind Night.” Both homers came in the first three at-bats, making some fans wonder if the All-Star home-run derby had been rescheduled for Keyspan Park.
Shaky starter Jenrry Meija gave it all back — and more — in the visiting second, giving up four runs on four consecutive hits. But the Clones retook the lead with three runs in the fourth, one on an error, one on a Havens double and one on a perfect piece of major-league hitting by rehabbing Met outfielder Angel Pagan, who poked a breaking ball just over the second baseman’s outstretch glove.
Havens added a third RBI in the sixth with a two-out single and Jake Eigsti squeezed home an insurance run in the eighth.
State College scored two in the ninth against reliever Stephen Clyne, but it was too little, too late.
Special mention must be made of reliever Roy Merritt’s stunning performance. Coming into the game in the fifth with bases loaded and one out, he promptly struck out the next two batters — then whiffed four of the next five before being pulled after a walk. Merritt got the win, his first. He lowered his ERA to 0.64. In all, the Cyclones struck out 13 Spikes on the night.
