Brooklyn Cyclones: Strong Pitching Spins A 1-0 Beauty In Lowell

The pitch which struck nineteen year old Brandon Nimmo on the shoulder during Sunday’s game against the Auburn Doubledays has now resulted in Brooklyn’s starting center fielder missing his second consecutive game.  He was scratched from Monday’s series finale against Auburn, and was not penciled into the starting line-up for Tuesday night’s series opener against the Lowell Spinners..  His status is day-to-day.

Heading into Tuesday night’s action, the Brooklyn Cyclones were one of only three New York Penn League teams with thirty wins or better.  Manager Rich Donnelly has his team taking care of business on all fronts.  As of Tuesday morning, they sport the circuit’s best fielding percentage, with a .977 mark.  At the plate, they rank second in the league in home runs with twenty-six.  And on the mound, the Cyclones’ staff leads the NY-PL with 424 strikeouts.  However, the Cyclones’ three-pronged attack still hasn’t been enough to retake first place away from the Hudson Valley Renegades, ….yet.  The Coney Island Nine started the night two games behind in the McNamara Division standings.

Once game time rolled around, Brooklyn’s Gabriel Ynoa started this road trip by facing off against Lowell’s starting pitcher, William Cuevas.  Through the first three innings, all was quiet.  Then in the fourth, Brooklyn struck with the first run of the game.  With one out, first baseman Jayce Boyd clobbered his second home run, and team home run number twenty-seven of the season, over the left field fence for a 1-0 lead.  And that’s the way it stayed after seven innings of play.

For Lowell, William Cuevas lasted six innings.  He allowed the one home run to Boyd, but nothing more.  He surrendered four other scattered hits, walked one, and struck out four Cyclones before giving way to reliever, Gregory Larson.  Larson completed a scoreless seventh inning.  For Brooklyn, Gabriel Ynoa tossed seven stellar innings by allowing no runs, and surrendering a mere four hits.  He additionally walked no batters and struck out eight.

Paul Sewald was summoned from the bullpen to pitch the eighth inning.  He struck out the last two batters swinging while retiring the side in order.  Lowell’s Gregory Larson reciprocated with a second inning of scoreless work.

Into the ninth inning they went with the Spinners down by a run.  Although the Brooks threatened with runners on first and third with two outs, Gregory Larson stood his ground and kept the Cyclones scoreless for a third consecutive inning.

Paul Sewald returned for a second inning to stop Lowell’s attempt at last licks.  Sewald turned away the lead-off batter after striking him out swinging.  Then retired the next two batters in order to gain his third save of the season.  The overall pitching line for the game was near picture perfect; nine innings; four hits; zero runs; zero walks; and eleven strikeouts.  For his seven innings of fine work, starter Gabriel Ynoa earned his fourth win of the season against just one loss.  His season ERA is now down to a 2.45 mark.  While Paul Sewarld is yet to give up a run in eleven appearances, and 19.2 innings pitched.

The Cyclones managed nine hits.  Jayce Boyd, Stefan Sabol, and Julio Concepcion, each had two hits in four at-bats.  Kevin Plawecki, who had been really heating up lately, was hit-less in four times at-bat.

In Hudson Valley (Peekskill, N.Y.) this evening, the Vermont Lake Monsters jumped out to 1-0; 3-0; and 5-0 lead; before the Renegades came storming back with four runs in the home fifth inning.  In the eighth inning, they broke through with three more runs, for a 7-5 victory.  So for the Surf Avenue Sluggers, there will be no ground gained yet again on the division leader.  The Cyclones are now 31-18 this season; two games behind the 33-16 Renegades.  In their respective last ten games played, Hudson Valley is 9-1, and the Brooks sport an 8-2 record.  As they are currently a second place club, the Cyclones however maintain a firm grip on the Wild Card by five games over the State College Spikes.

Brooklyn and Hudson Valley will eventually face-off one last time in a possible showdown for first place towards the end of August.  If the Cyclones have designs of catching and passing the Renegades, and recapturing first place, they have exactly twenty-seven games left in which to get it done.