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When you have a bad outing in the minor leagues, your annual four days between starts is likely to be spent with your five roommates in a two room apartment, the occasional “I’m on Baseball Tonight thrill”, and a little tune up with your minor league pitching cooridinator.
And sometimes, the real difference maker is a little wake up call in the first inning.
Cyclones starter Nick Waechter, coming off a start in which he allowed four runs in 4.1 innings, commenced sinfully slow. He started off behind in the count, and when forced to throw inside the strike zone, the Ironbirds were able to tag him for three runs in the first, on sharp hits doubles by Tyler Henson and Wally Crancer. Frustrated, he also nearly hit Ironbirds third baseman Frank Gonzalez in the coconut, but was able to finally work himself out of the jam.
Aberdee starter Zach Britton, who came into tonights game with just one inning thrown as a starter as the direct result of command problems in his first outing, ultimately leading him to exceed his per inning pitch count, appeared in control early on, retiring the Cyclones hitters 1-2-3 in the first, but seemed rattled after a two out error by shortstop Tyler Henson, yielding a double to first baseman Luca Duda, followed up by a wild pitch that allowed Yasmil Bucce to score, and yet anonther error by Henson helped even up the game at three after two innings.
Waechter allowed one more run in the third inning, but settled down afterwards, walking none and left with an ok line after five considering the circumstances. After that, two innings seemd to come and go, with the Abeerdeens leading four to three going into the eight, when for a team that has relied consistently on pitching six games into the season, Cyclones fans got a bit of a jolt in the bottom of the eighth.
Happy to see Joe Esposito leace after retiring seven in a row at one point, Ender Chavez, who came into the night three for his last sixteen and has all but succumbed to his role of a defensive replacement, started a bit of a common event in the eighth, compiling an infield single. Even with the third baseman looking for a bunt, Cyclones shortstop Mike Bouchard, who had a solid defensive showing tonight, put down the sacrafice bunt, moving Bouchard to second. A batter later, J.R. Voyles beat out a slow chopper to third, scoring Chavez, and Jason Jacobs, nearly missing a home run to dead center, for a double, giving the Cyclones the lead.
Edgar Alfonzo, who has thus far used Steven Cheney and Dan McDonald in the closers role, went to Clemson alumni Steven Clyne. Clyne, with the help of a Derek Jeter esque play by Mike Bouchard, worked himself thorugh a difficult ninth to get the save.
Notes: Former Mets and Yankees outfielder Bubba Tramell, who was on a rehab assignment here in Aberdeen, went one for four with one strike out.
Edgar Alfonzo is now 35-9 in his two years here at Keyspan Park.
Filed under: baseball
The play of the respective infields made the difference tonight! The Cyclones infield was rock solid–Bouchard made two fabulous plays–one to his right and one to his left–at short; Eigsti made some nice picks at third, and Duda at first made a critical scoop on a low throw to end a rally.
On the other side, Aberdeen was brutal, with the Cyclones scoring three three thanks to two errors in one inning by the Ironbird shortstop, plus non-plays–the pitcher slow to react to Chavez’s single to lead off the 8th, and the third baseman too slow to make the play on the bouncer that drove Chavez home.
A weird win–one of those that leaves you scratching your head afterwards, as to how they pulled it off, but I’ll take it. As Casey Stengall used to say, “They don’t ask how, they ask how many!”
I really like this team. They show a lot of grit and determination, and there is no quit in them–no doubt a reflection of their manager, Fonzie….
However, their leftfielders are playing so far off the line they’ll need to hail a cab to play anything hit to left! Who is positioning the outfielders???
Sammy Cyclones