Cyclones 4 – S.I. Yanks 3
Finally, the story of the game wasn’t the blasted Brooklyn Cyclone arms. At least that’s what the Cyclones’ overshadowed offense had to think.
Last night, it was the Brooklyn bats that bailed out the Brooklyn arms to earn a 4-3 victory over the Staten Island Yankees at KeySpan Park for the sixth time in as many tries this season.
“If you look at most of the games we lost, they were one-run or two-run losses,” Travis Garcia, who scored the winning run in the bottom of the ninth, said. “They’ve been doing a great job and now the bats are coming around.”
After Garcia stole second base on a controversial safe call that Garcia swore was right, shortstop David Reaver took a 1-2 curve ball down the left field line. The throw home wasn’t close and the Cyclones (10-4) squeaked out the win.
Some might argue that the outcome shouldn’t have been that close. With Tim Worthington on the mound in the eighth and the Cyclones up 3-1, shortstop David Slevin ripped a home run over a short left field wall that yielded three such blasts.
Then, in the same inning but with Robert Paulk on the mound, Hector Zamora hit a double to the left-centerfield gap to score Adam Shorts and tie the score at 3-3 and spoil the win for Cyclone starter Shane Hawk.
Hawk pitched brilliantly, going five innings and giving up one hit and one unearned run. The Cyclone offense helped the cause with home runs from Blake Whealy in the second and Ian Bladergroen in the fifth.
The latter caused a Yankee manager Andy Stankiewicz tirade after the ball bounced off the scoreboard back into play.
Stankiewicz, whose team fell to 3-12, argued the ball hit off the wall, but replays showed the ball cleared the wall and bounced off the scoreboard, which is a home run.
“Our pitchers did a fine job, so they’ve been keeping runners off base, which has been our strong suit so far this season,” Cyclone manager Tim Tuefel said. “[On offense] we were aggressive; we got on base a few more times than they did. When you put yourselves in more of an opportunity, sometimes you come through.”
Like in the bottom of the ninth, for instance? With Reaver up and Garcia, who reached on a pinch hit single, on first with two outs, the game looked to be destined for extra innings. But Garcia stole second on his own.
“He’s one of those guys with a little bit of speed,” Tuefel said. “I’m trying to get these guys to be a little bit instinctive. I don’t want them always looking for signs.”