BROOKLYN, NY-The last time the Cyclones
played a day game at home, it was a 26 –inning affair with the Mets Single-A Affiliate eventually losing to the Oneonta
Tigers; trying to desperately keep their playoff hopes alive in the first game of a day-night double header, Brooklyn wouldn’t
go 26 innings, but the game would prove to have many drama-filled moments with the boys from Brooklyn winning in their last
at-bat, defeating the Lowell Spinners 3-2
“It was tremendous,” said Cyclones
manager George Greer. “Stoner pitched a great game, he was spotting his fastball and had all three pitches working.
He really worked hard to keep us in the ballgame.”
Tobi Stoner [5-2, 2.35 ERA] would get the
afternoon start and despite great fielding and precision on the mound, would give up an unearned run in the first, giving
Lowell
an early 1-0 lead. The Cyclones would battle back however, as a Jesus Gamero single in the first would send home Luis Rivera,
tying the score at 1-1.
Stoner and Spinners starting pitcher Travis
Beazley would then keep the game scoreless through the sixth inning before Stoner ended up giving up another unearned run,
this time on a Reid Engel RBI that allowed Jon Still to score, giving Lowell a
2-1 lead.
“My two-seamer was really nasty today.
I really had command today. Whatever I wanted the ball to do, it did,” said Stoner. “I threw my heart out there.”
Lowell sub-marine style throwing closer
Joshua Paplebon would then come out of the bullpen and wouldn’t be able to notch his second save in as many days against
the Cyclones, giving up a single to Dustin Martin and a walk by Emmanuel Garcia, before intentionally walking Dan Murphy,
paving the way for Jesus Gamero to end the game on a two-run single on a 1-0 changeup, propelling Brooklyn to a 3-2 win.
“I can’t explain it,”
said Gamero. “It was a great feeling. I got some secrets from a few major leaguers as far guys with that kind of delivery
are concerned. I was told not to watch their motion, just watch the pitcher’s box, because that’s where the ball
is going to come from. Today it helped me.”
“This is the third time we faced
Paplebon,” said Greer. “I think the guys were really determined to score some runs off of him.”
With this afternoon’s win, the
Cyclones are 1.5 games out of the wild card, with only four games remaining.
