Cyclones 2
Staten Island 1
Game 1
July 26 at MCU Park
The Cardiac Clones pulled out a victory with the go-ahead run in the bottom of the sixth in a 2–1 win over the hated Staten Island Yankees in game 1 of Tuesday’s doubleheader. Colby Woodmansee drove in both runs for Brooklyn – keeping up a recent hot streak at the plate.
“Woodmansee with the bat was obviously the star of game one,” Cyclones manager Tom Gamboa said.
The Evil Empire of the New York-Penn League got on the board in the second against Cyclones Erik Manoah. Timmy Robinson led off with a single and Dom Thompson-Williams followed with a single of his own. The second single moved Robinson to third as Thompson-Williams took second on the throw. Kendall Coleman’s sacrifice fly to right scored Robinson with the game’s first run.
Manoah struck out Eduardo Navas and Danienger Perez – stranding Thompson-Williams at third – to limit the damage and get out of the inning.
The hated Staten Island Yankees missed a chance to add an insurance run in the fourth. Drew Bridges led off with a triple, but Manoah got a strikeout, grounder to first and – after a walk – a grounder to second to escape damage.
Staten Island starter Taylor Widener kept the Cyclones scoreless for three innings, but Brooklyn got on the board against Brian Trieglaff in the fourth. Michael Paez led off with a double, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on Colby Woodmansee’s sacrifice fly.
The game remained tied until the bottom of the sixth. Gene Cone led off with a single against Yankees reliever David Sosebee and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Paez. Woodmansee came through again with a double off the left field wall, scoring Paez and giving Brooklyn a 2–1 lead.
Kyle Regnault replaced Manoah and picked up the save, allowing only a two-out single.
Manoah improved to 4–1, giving up one run on six hits over six innings. He walked two, but also struck out three and even caught a pop-up.
“I am so proud of Erik Manoah,” Gamboa said. “He’s always had stuff, but his maturity level, or lack of I should say, to see what he did today, the way he competed on every pitch and then went near the backstop to catch a pop-up.”
Cyclones 3
Staten Island 2
Game 2
July 26 at MCU Park
The Cardiac Clones stayed alive on a two-out error in the seventh and won in the eighth against the hated Staten Island Yankees in game two of Tuesday’s doubleheader.
Brooklyn jumped to a lead with an unearned run in the second. Blake Tiberi reached on a one-out error by third baseman Yancarlos Baez and scored on Nick Sergakis’ two-out double into left field. Third-base coach Edgardo Alfonzo – who was celebrated on Tuesday with a bobblehead – waved in Tiberi, who scored on a bang-bang play at the plate.
Raul Jacobson pitched five shutout innings in a surprise start for the Clones. Tom Gamboa learned that Jacobson would be moving up to Columbia and that he was to start instead of Gabriel Llanes.
“I was just happy to get the call,” Jacobson said. “I see myself as a starter. I got assigned to starting last year. I’ve been waiting for this opportunity all year and I was just pumped.”
Llanes threw a scoreless sixth in relief, but couldn’t hold on to the lead in seventh.
Drew Bridges singled with one out and then scored on Timmy Robinson’s triple to right-center. With the infield in, Dom Thompson-Williams singled between first and second to score Robinson with the go-ahead run. Gamboa was quick to point out that Llanes was pitching in unfamiliar territory – more comfortable starting games than closing them.
“He’s been a starter his whole career,” Gamboa said. “I said, ‘Hey, you made one mistake and a good hitter jumped on it. That’s baseball. You gotta give him credit.’”
Brooklyn’s lineup helped pick up Llanes in the bottom of the frame. Sergakis singled for his third hit of the night and a wild pitched move him into scoring position. Dan Rizzie hit what looked to be a game-ending grounder to short, but Angel Aguilar’s throw was high and deflected off the first baseman’s glove – into the Brooklyn dugout as Sergakis scored to tie the game.
Arnaldo Berrios singled to center, but Rizzie was thrown out easily at the plate – trying to score from second – as the game moved into extra innings.
Gene Cone singled to lead off the eighth, moved to second on a wild pitch and advanced to third on Colby Woodmansee’s single.
With runners on the corners and one out, Pete Alonso ended the game with a sacrifice fly to left, scoring Cone.
Back at .500, the 19–19 Cyclones get a rare off day on Wednesday before hitting the road.
UPS AND DOWNS
The bottom of the third inning was played while the area near the visitors on-deck circle was covered with baby powder. As part of a contest, a fan had contents from a mystery bucket dumped on her, which turned out to be baby powder but it was swept away before the fourth inning.
