Brooklyn Cyclones: Fend Off Monsters For Second Straight Win

From the desk of:   THE SURF AVENUE SLUGGERS

BROOKLYN CYCLONES:

Coney Island Gains a Game on Hudson Valley.

Win Second Straight Over Vermont Lake Monsters.

AFTER MISSING FIVE GAMES, BRANDON NIMMO RETURNS TO ACTION

In game two of their weekend series, Brooklyn finally turned up the offensive production Saturday with six runs on nine hits against the Vermont Lake Monsters.  Four Brooklyn pitchers chipped in to keep the Monsters at bay.  Brandon Nimmo made his return to the line-up, and four Cyclones hitters had multi-hit games.  Ultimately, two unearned runs allowed by Vermont would send their game off in the wrong direction.



Making his seventh start, Brooklyn's Julian Hilario, pitched in search of his second win against three losses this season.  And he'd get it.  Julian left the game after five innings pitched, in which he allowed Vermont one earned run, on five hits.  He walked two and struck out five before leaving the game.  Matthew Kotch first out of Brooklyn's bullpen.  Vermont roughed him up though.  In one inning of work, he surrendered two runs, on four hits, and issued one walk.  But Brooklyn escaped the sixth inning still holding on to a 6-3 lead.



Beck Wheeler and Paul Seward pitched the final three innings.  In two innings of work, Wheeler allowed no hits, walked none, and struck out three Monsters.  Paul Sewald pitched the ninth to secure his fourth save of the season.  He surrendered one hit, and struck out two to close out the Cyclones' thirty-third win of the season.



The Brooks took an early lead in the first inning.  Brandon Nimmo led off Brooklyn's night by drawing a walk.  He advanced to third on Phillip Evans' single.  Then a balk called against Vermont's starter, Michael Ynoa, allowed Nimmo to score.  Phillip Evans later came around to score on an RBI single by Kevin Plawecki, to make the score 2-0 Cyclones.  In the fourth, Brooklyn struck for two more runs.  Brandon Nimmo had an RBI single, and came around to score on a Phillip Evans single, making it a 4-0 game at that point.



In the fifth, Kevin Plawecki led off the inning with his fourth home run of the season.  And in the very next inning, Eudy Pina led off the sixth with a solo home run as well, to give Brooklyn their six run total.  That was Eudy Pina's fourth home run of the season.  The pair of long balls brings Brooklyn's total up to twenty-nine, which still ranks them second in the league.



This was Brandon Nimmo's first game back after getting hit by a pitch on the shoulder, which caused him to miss five games with discomfort.  But Saturday night, he picked up where he left off, and  continues to thrive batting lead-off.  He was two for four at the plate in his return.  The day before being inserted into the lead-off spot on July 25th, he was hitting eighth in the order, and at a .228 clip.  Since then, he has raised his average to a .270 mark.  He is ninth in the league in runs scored; is sporting a .391 OBP; is third in the league in walks; and is tied for second among the circuit leaders in doubles.



Hudson Valley lost to the Lowell Spinners in thirteen innings up in Peekskill, N.Y.  That means Brooklyn gained a game on the Renegades.  The Brooks are now back to being two games behind Hudson Valley for the McNamara Division lead, with twenty-three games remaining in the regular season.  The Cyclones still maintain a five game lead over State College for the Wild Card.





Mike.BTB