Cyclones 3
Hudson Valley 0
Aug. 25 at Hudson Valley
Kevin Canelon shutout the Renegades on one hit over eight innings as the Cyclones beat the Renegades.
Joe McCarthy’s one-out single in the fourth accounted for the only Hudson Valley base runner.
The Cyclones broke through in the seventh when Vinny Siena led off with a single against Tyler Brashears before stealing after a fly out.
Zach Mathieu then grounded out to the pitcher before Jose Garcia came through with a two-out, run-scoring single to left.
Brooklyn provided some insurance for Canelon in the eighth.
Hengelbert Rojas led off with a single, moved to second on a sacrifice, advanced to third on a wild pitch, and scored on an error by Renegade shortstop Michael Russell.
The error allowed Branden Kaupe to reach base, who moved to second on a groundout and scored on a Jeff Diehl grounds-rule double to make it 3–0.
Canelon pitched eight innings, allowing one hit, walking none, and striking out 10. The southpaw is now 5–4.
Alex Palsha picked up his 13th save, pitching a 1-2-3 ninth inning with two strikeouts.
Siena, Garcia, and Rojas had two hits apiece.
The 30–32 Cyclones return to MCU Park for a 7 pm start against Hudson Valley.
Hudson Valley 4
Cyclones 2
Aug. 24 at MCU Park
Hudson Valley scored three runs in the seventh off Nicco Blank as the Cyclones dropped another one.
The game was scoreless until the Renegades broke through in the sixth.
Jake Cronenworth led off with a single, was bunted to second and advanced to third on a groundout.
With two outs, Manny Sanchez hit a grounder which hit Tyler Badamo’s glove and trickled behind the mound.
Vinny Siena tried to throw Sanchez out, but the throw was late and Hudson Valley took a 1–0 lead.
Cristopher Crisostomo came onto pitch the sixth for Hudson Valley after Michael Velasquez shutout Brooklyn for the first five innings, and Jeff Diehl and Zach Mathieu singled with one out.
While getting ready to deliver a 1–1 pitch to Brandon Brosher, Crisostomo dropped the ball, advancing the runners moving to second and third.
Brosher struck out but reached on a passed ball by Taylor Hawkins that allowed the tying run to score as Mathieu moved to third.
After Hengelbert Rojas worked a walk to load the bases, Enmanuel Zabala delivered a sacrifice fly to give the Cyclones a 2–1 lead, and putting the game in the hands of the Brooklyn bullpen.
Gamby called on Nicco Blank to pitch the seventh. Gamboa’s plan was to have Blank set up for Johnny Magliozzi, but Blank struggled.
Alex Schmidt singled with one out bringing up Hawkins, who doubled to left-center scoring Schmidt with the tying run.
Oscar Sanay singled to right, scoring Hawkins. The Brosher error made it 4–2.
Blank rebounded to pitch two scoreless innings, but fell to 0–4 with all four losses coming to Hudson Valley.
Believe it or not, Brooklyn is still only three games behind the hated Staten Island Yankees for first place in the ultra-close McNamara Division.
Cyclones 3
Aberdeen 2
Aug.23 at Aberdeen
Zach Mathieu drove in all three runs in the Cyclones’s come-from-behind win over the IronBirds.
Aberdeen took the lead on a Ryan Mountcastle two-out, two-run homer off Edioglis Villasmil in the second.
Brooklyn got to Jean Cosme in the fourth, sixth, and eighth for the win.
In the fourth, Jeff Diehl worked a one-out walk and moved to second on a wild pitch and later scored on Mathieu’s double to cut the lead to 2–1.
Patrick Baker got the first two batters out before giving up doubles to Diehl and Mathieu, tying the game at two.
IronBirds manager Luis Pujols brought in Ryan Meisinger, and Mathieu singled to center, giving Brooklyn a 3–2 lead.
Cyclones 12
Aberdeen 9
Aug. 22 at Aberdeen
The Cyclones took a big lead and then held off an IronBird rally for the win.
Brooklyn scored in the first as Alfredo Reyes singled, advanced on a ground out and scored on David Thompson’s double.
With one out in the second, Enmanuel Zabala tripled and scored on Branden Kaupe’s single to make it 2–0. Kaupe scored on a Reyes ground out to make it 3–0.
Aberdeen answered back in the bottom of the inning on Drew Turbin’s two-run homer off Andrew Church.
Jose Garcia’s double off Daniel Ayers scored Jeff Diehl and Zach Mathieu to give Brooklyn a 5–2 lead.
Garcia came around to score on a single from Kaupe.
Vinny Siena came through with a two-out, two-run single for a comfortable 8–2 lead.
Church gave up a run in the third as D.J. Stewart doubled and scored on Alex Murphy’s single.
Garcia’s single scored two runners to give Brooklyn a 10–3 lead.
After Kaupe singled, Reyes doubled in two runs to give the Cyclones a seemingly insurmountable 12–3 lead in the fourth.
The Aberdeen pitching staff shutout Brooklyn over the final five innings.
Church gave up three singles in the fourth but got Stewart to line into a double play to end the inning. Aberdeen went down in order in the fifth, but Church struggled in the sixth.
The starter gave up three singles to start the inning as the lead was cut to 12–4. After a mound visit, Church recorded two outs but then gave up a run-scoring single to Stewart.
Tom Gamboa called on Brandon Welch to get out of the inning.
Welch surrendered a run-scoring single to Chris Shaw as Aberdeen cut the lead to 12–6 before Welch got Steve Laurino to fly out to end the inning.
After struggling with control on Friday, Welch pitched a 1-2-3 seventh inning.
A new battery came on for Brooklyn in the eighth as Manuel Hilario replaced Garcia behind the plate and Ruben Reyes took the mound.
Aberdeen put the first two runners on with the help of an error and a big batter.
A wild pitch moved the runners into scoring position and a two-run single from Andujar made it 12–8.
Andujar took second on the throw home, moved to third on a passed ball and scored on a wild pitch as the lead was now 12–9.
Reyes got Stewart to fly out before being removed.
Craig Missigman came on and recorded two outs with a hit batter mixed in.
All-star Alex Palsha came in for the save and got the first two outs before running into trouble.
The closer walked two batters, allowing Andujar to come up as the tying run.
Andujar struck out but reached on a passed ball.
With the bases loaded, Palsha got Stewart on a groundout to second to end the game.
The last-place Cyclones are now three games behind the hated Staten Island Yankees, who sit atop the tough McNamara Division.
The Cyclones close out the series in Aberdeen tonight at 5:30. Head down I-95 to see all the action.
Aberdeen 5
Cyclones 1
Aug. 21 at Aberdeen
Brooklyn lost for the first time since the All-Star break, dropping the opening game of a three-game series in against the IronBirds.
Gaby Almonte was greeted with a leadoff triple from Cedric Mullins and a run-scoring double off the bat of Ricardo Andujar.
Andujar scored on Chris Shaw’s single to make it 2–0.
Aberdeen added another run in the fifth as Andujar doubled and scored on D.J. Stewart’s single.
The Cyclones got a run back in the sixth. Singles from Manuel Hilario, Alfredo Reyes, and Vinny Siena loaded the bases with nobody out.
Reid Love recovered to strikeout David Thompson.
Jeff Diehl’s sac fly cut the lead to 3–1.
Brandon Brosher’s two-out walk loaded the bases.
Andrew Elliott came in from the bullpen and got Zach Mathieu to fly out to left.
Nicco Blank pitched a scoreless seventh inning, but Brandon Welch struggled in the eighth.
Steve Laurino was hit by a pitch, stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch.
A walk to Alex Murphy put runners on the corners with nobody out.
Another wild pitch advanced Murphy to second although Laurino held at third.
The runners stayed out on a ground out to second. Then Laurino was nailed at home on a throw from Alfredo Reyes for the second out.
Gamboa called on Ruben Reyes to get the third out of the inning but Reyes surrendered a two-run double to Drew Turbin. The hit gave Aberdeen a 5–1 lead.
Brooklyn put two runners on in the ninth but Pedro Perez struck out to end the game.
Cyclones 4
Lowell 3
Aug. 20 at MCU Park
The Cyclones scored twice to tie the game in the ninth and scored two more in the 11th for a dramatic come-from-behind victory in which Pedro Perez was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to end the game.
It looked like Kevin Canelon was going to suffer another tough loss as the southpaw gave up two runs in eight innings, and the Cyclones left the bases loaded in the third and missed a golden opportunity in the fifth.
Trailing 1–0, Enmanuel Zabala led off with a single and stole second. Pedro Perez singled to center and Yunir Garcia waved Zabala home.
Luis Alexander Basabe’s throw nailed Zabala for the first out of the inning.
Conventional baseball wisdom says not to make the first or third out on the bases but Tom Gamboa understood the decision.
“I love Yunir to death,” said the fiesty skipper. “He was being overly-aggressive because it’s been so long since we scored.”
The meager offense impacted the decision.
“Many times I found myself right where Yunir was tonight where you’re almost thinking ‘God if this throw’s good he’s probably going to be out’ but we’re in such a rut that you have to do something to force the action.”
After a wild pitch and a walk, Alfredo Reyes came up with runners on the corners.
Shortstop Jeremy Rivera turned an impressive double play on a grounder hit up the middle.
With Lowell leading 2–0 in the ninth, David Thompson led off with a double and Brandon Brosher reached on an infield single.
The Spinners called on Trevor Kelley and his sidearm motion to get the last three outs.
With Hengelbert Rojas looking to bunt, Kelley threw a wild pitch.
Rojas grounded out to short, scoring Thompson and sending Brosher to third.
Zach Mathieu hit a chopper to third which was high enough to score Brosher with the tying run.
“He definitely had tough arm action, so I just decided to try to shorten up, put the ball in play at any cost,” Mathieu said.
Lowell took the lead in the 11th inning on Tyler Spoon’s two-out single off Carlos Valdez.
Brosher led off the bottom of the inning with an opposite field double and moved to third on Hengelbert Rojas’ single.
For the second time in three innings, Mathieu came to the plate against Kelley with a chance to tie the game. And for the second time in three innings, Mathieu came through, this time with a game-tying double to right.
“His velocity had gone down and the ball wasn’t moving as much, so he’s definitely easier but he’s still a great pitcher, so, tough battle,” Mathieu said.
Kelley was missing his spots in his third inning of work.
“He just happened to leave something, unfortunately for him, just a little too much over the plate and I was fortunate enough to just put good wood on it and hit it the other way,” Mathieu said.
Zabala was intentionally walked to load the bases.
Pedro Perez was plunked on a rare walk-off hit by pitch.
The Cyclones will take it.
“You win a game like this, coming from behind not once, but twice and sometimes it can change the whole aura and the confidence level,” Gamboa said.
Brooklyn has won both games since returning from the All-Star break.
“The morale around here is so much higher than it was before,” Mathieu said.
Cyclones 3
Lowell 1
Aug. 19 at MCU Park
The Cyclones snapped a six-game losing streak with a 3–1 win over Lowell, but manger Tom Gamboa wasn’t around to see it as the take-no-prisoners skipper was ejected before the first pitch.
Several weeks ago, umpire David Martinez called an automatic strike three on David Thompson during a crucial at-bat — a move that incensed Gamboa and wasn’t soon forgotten, as it broke a cardinal rule of umpiring according to the field general, to not affect the outcome of the game.
“We had this crew, one of which is totally not prepared to umpire at this level do something that is unconscionable at any level of professional baseball,” Gamboa said.
Gamboa told league officials that he didn’t want the crew, Martinez and Donnie Smith, working another Brooklyn game, but here they were, with Smith behind the plate and Martinez on the bases.
So when Gamby went out to hand over his line up to the men in blue, we was taken aback.
“I was willing to play the game but when I went up there and the home plate umpire reached for my lineup card and I said ‘I’m not giving it to you yet.’ ”
The old-school skipper dressed down Martinez, and gave us the play-by-play as he remembered it below.
Gamboa: You’ve lost the respect of our team, the last time.
Martinez: I don’t know what you mean.
Gamboa: Before I give my lineup card, I want to know how many outs my team is getting tonight. Whether it’s gonna be the league mandated rules of 27 or if it’s going to be 26, because I have to tell these guys something because they’re wondering the same thing I am.
Martinez: I wouldn’t go there.
Gamboa: Well we are going there because I’m not leaving here. It’s tough enough for us to beat the other team without knowing what the rules are that we’re going to be playing. I’m standing here until I know how many outs we’re entitled to.
Martinez then ejected the skipper, who said he remained calm because the last time he got into an argument with Martinez, he lost his voice for a month.
“I wasn’t ready to go through the whole thing, so I just turned around and gave the card,” he said. “I didn’t swear, I didn’t demean anybody. But I was entitled, and demanded, to know how many outs we were going to get because the last time we has this crew we only got 26.”
The incident in West Virginia didn’t shock Gamboa. Earlier in that game, Brandon Brosher swung and missed at a pitch and went to get pine tar for a better grip. Martinez ordered Brosher back in the box and admitted to Gamboa that he didn’t realize the bat had nearly come out of his hands.
“I said ‘The game is too fast for you. Just slow down. You gotta know that a hitter walking away to the on-deck circle, there’s gotta be a reason for it.’ ”
That was the appetizer for Thompson’s at-bat.
“When Thompson stepped out of the box and I saw him point back in — in a panic mode as though to show who was the boss,” he said. “I wasn’t even looking at Thompson anyway, I knew what was going to happen before it happened.”
Gamboa missed a pretty good game on Wednesday. With Edgardo Alfonzo handling the managerial duties, the Cyclones scored three times in the first.
Vinny Siena’s two-run triple gave Brooklyn an early lead and the all-star second baseman scored on a wild pitch.
Siena finished with two of Brooklyn’s four hits.
Lowell got a run back in the second on consecutive doubles. It was the only run, and the only two hits that Tyler Badamo allowed in six innings as the starter improved to 3–6.
The usually lackluster Brooklyn offense scoring three early runs was vital.
“That’s the biggest part of the game,” Badamo said. “Once we get ahead I can pitch with a lead and kind of relax and make better pitches, easier pitches. Try to get them out instead of trying to strike people out in situations that normally call for it. With no one on base it’s a lot easier to just pitch to contact.”
Craig Missigman, P.J. Conlon, and Carlos Valdez all pitched an inning of scoreless relief.
