Gamby’s blow-up leads to Cyclones win

Cyclones 7

Vermont 1

July 19 at MCU Park

Gaby Almonte picked up his third victory of the season as the Cyclones bats finally came alive, appeasing manager Tom Gamboa, who had ripped the team the day before for their collective lack of discipline at the plate.

“It’s nice that our offense resurfaced after a week or two in hibernation,” Tom Gamboa said.

The win and came after Gamby and his coaches had another meeting with their crew, demanding that it start taking pitches that are out of the strike zone, while questioning his players’ intelligence.

“We are constantly chasing a 1–1 pitch that’s often in the dirt, or it’s over our head and then we’re wondering why we’re not getting any hits,” the Clones skipper said. “And you guys are throwing your bats and getting upset. You guys are doing the same thing and expecting a different result when you need to get your head out from your a– and realize that when you chase pitches you’re putting the count in the pitcher’s favor.”

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The results were immediate. In the first inning, Jeff Diehl worked a walk after being down 0–2 in the count. David Thompson later worked the count full and hit a grounder to third which was booted and scored the first run of the game.

“Right from the first inning we saw a more focused quality in the at-bats,” Gamboa said.

Vinny Siena’s run-scoring single in the second gave Brooklyn a 2–0 lead. Siena, who went three-for-four, raising his team-leading average to .340, thought Gamboa had to do something after watching his teammates struggle so much.

“It’s really good to have that meeting and then have success right after that,” Siena said.

Brooklyn took advantage of two fifth -inning errors to make it 3–0. Almonte cruised until the seventh when he gave up a double and a run-scoring single.

Carlos Valdez came in and induced an inning-ending double-play.

The Cyclones put the game away with Hengelbert Rojas’ two-run single in the seventh and Michael Bernal’s two-run double in the eighth — Bernal’s first two runs batted in of the month.

Nicco Blank retired the Lake Monsters in order in the ninth as the Cyclones improved to 17–11, good enough for first place in the McNamara Division.

The Cyclones will be back in action today in a rare day game, starting at 11:30 am. We’ll editiorialize and tell you to head on out to the ballpark for some ocean breezes, maybe a frank or two, sunshine, and the ball game. Oh, and if you’re of age, a beer or two wouldn’t be a bad thing.