Cyclones 5
Spinners 2
Aug. 8, at Lowell
Here it is, sports fans, all you need to win a baseball game: a four-run fourth and great pitching.
That was the formula, as Jose Jimenez slammed his fourth homer of the year, and J.R. Voyles added a two-out, two-run single as the surging Cyclones put up a quartet of runs in the fourth to set the stage for a big win.
Matt Smith added a solo shot in the eighth for the unneeded insurance.
Starter Scott Shaw was impressive, yielding just four hits and one run in six innings of work. He struck out eight.
Reliever Jimmy Johnson got into a little trouble in the ninth, giving up a triple and a single, but Steve Clyne notched his eight close of the year to secure the win.
Unfortunately, the Staten Island Yankees won again, keeping the Cyclones at three games back.
Muckdogs 2
Cyclones 0
Aug. 9, at Keyspan Park
It was almost the opposite story the next night back home: the other team got the big hits and tossed a bunch of zeroes, as three Batavia pitchers combined on a three-hitter.
Starter Brad Holt (4
4, 2.08 ERA) was good, but not great. He was cruising until the fourth, when he gave up a run on a two-out single. In the fifth, reliever Matias Carrillo gave up a solo shot.
And that was all she wrote.
Cyclones 6
Muckdogs 5
Aug. 10 at Keyspan Park (10 inns.)
The Cyclones snatched back a victory that should never have been in doubt, thanks to a heroic bottom-of-the-10th single by Kirk Nieuwenhuis.
But this game should have been a laugher: The Cyclones jumped to a five-run lead, with four in the first and one in the second. The key blows were Jordan Abruzzo’s RBI double and Reese Havens’s two-RBI triple in the first and Kirk Nieuwenhuis RBI triple in the second.
But the Muckdogs chipped away, scoring single runs in the third, fourth and fifth, plus two more in the seventh to tie the game.
Starter Jenry Meija was mediocre, giving up three runs over his five innings, though he did strike out six. Roy Merritt faltered, putting too many men on in the seventh, and Yury Santana gave up three hits to earn his third blown save of the year.
But closer Steve Clyne kept the Muckdogs at bay for the last two frames, so he ended up on the winning side when Nieuwenhuis smacked his single.
With the Staten Island Yankees game rained out, the Cyclones moved into second place, three-and-a-half games behind the division leading Baby Bombers.
