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The Baby Boomers could’ve snatched up Mike Pelfrey, flown him into Staten Island from New Orleans, and had him replace starter, Dellin Betances, but it would’ve yielded much of the same result if Pelfrey followed his 2006 game plan; throw ninety percent fastballs, and as outfielder Raul Reyes and catcher Yasmil Bucce would note, it doesn’t matter if you throw it right down the heart of the plate. You just need to throw it hard.
But while the Brooklyn native Betances made the Cyclones look foolish at times with his high 90’s heat, they were able to circumvent his control problems early on as well. Despite having surprisingly sound mechanics at his height, (6″8) and age, (19) Betances failed to follow suite of his 3.86 K/BB ratio with the GCL Yankees last year.
After striking out two in the first, Betances threw a wild pitch with one on and one out in the top half of the second, advancing runer Chris Fournier to second. He then walked 2B Micha Schilling, and two batters later, outfielder Ender Chavez walked with the bases loaded, scoring Schilling from third for the first run of the game. Outfielder Will Vogle would follow that up driving in two runs on a dobule that went right off the tip of Staten Island second baseman Damon Sublett, giving the Cyclones a 3-1 edge. It would end up being the last run of the game for the Cyclones.
Brooklyn starter Nick Waechter sufferred through the same control problems, but he was also lucky to have only given up four hits, as he was hit visibly hard. With a man on third and one out in the bottom of the first, Sublett smacked a hard hit fly ball into center field, only to be stopped by a spectacular diving catch by center fielder Raul Reyes at the 390 mark. the run would score, however, giving the Yankees their first run of the game.
The Cyclones were happy to see Dellin Betances leave after four innings of work, (five strikeouts, two walks, three earned runs) and Cyclones manager Edgar Alfonzo was quick to pull the plug on Waechter as well, after four and a third innings. Leading 3-1 going into the fifth, the Cyclones hoped David Koons would help close the game out. Koons, who entered the game with one out and men on first and second, failed to hold down the jam, but a lot of it was due to luck (Ok, anti-saber people, feel free to bash me in the comments section) as Koons allowed three weak hit grounders to sneak through the right side of the infield, scoring four runs.
By the time the hard throwing but control artist Steven Cheney came in, it was too late, as the Cyclones bench looked more like that of the Savannah Sand Gnats following the sixth inning blowup. The Cyclones offense failed to get much of anything started afterwards, and Yankees pitcher Nick Peterson struck out the red hot J.R. Voyles to end the game.
Notes: Shortstop Mike Bouchard had the bat, Raul Reyes had the glove, but Will Vogle seemed to be the only Cyclone who had much of both, making a nice runnning grab in the third, while picking up two hits tonight. He’s four for his last seven.
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