Brooklyn 4 - Tri-Cities 2

The Cyclones snapped their five game losing streak, and ended their 2013 season, with a 4-2 victory over the Tri-City ValleyCats on Wednesday night.  With the win, Brooklyn finished the season .500 or better for the 13th consecutive season.

Jeurys Familia, who underwent surgery on June 5th to clean out his right elbow, made the start for the Cyclones on Wednesday evening. He became the sixth pitcher and the 18th player overall to join Brooklyn as part of a Major League Rehabilitation assignment.  The righthander allowed a leadoff single to Jack Mayfield, who advanced to second on an error by Brooklyn second baseman L.J. Mazzilli.  Familia retired the next two batters he faced via groundout, but Mayfield came around to score an unearned run to open the scoring and give the ValleyCats a 1-0 edge.

In the bottom of the second, Miller Diaz took the mound for his first inning of work, and Tri-City put together a two out rally.  Ernesto Genoves worked a walk to start the threat and Jon Kemmer singled to put runners on the corners for Ydarqui Marte.  The Tri-City right fielder took advantage of the scoring chance with an RBI single that pushed the ValleyCats advantage to 2-0.

After the first six Cyclones were retired in order, Juan Gamboa started the third inning with Brooklyn’s first hit, a solo blast that sliced the ‘Cats lead in half at 2-1.

After Brooklyn and Tri-City matched zeroes in the fourth, the Cyclones took control of the game in the top of the fifth.  Randall Fant took the mound for the ValleyCats for his first inning of relief and struggled with his control from the get-go.  The righthander issued free passes to Matt Oberste, Gamboa and Eris Peguero to load the bases.  He subsequently hit Colton Plaia with a pitch to force home a run and knot the score at 2-2.  Fant was then lifted from the game without retiring a batter, handing the ball over to Krishawn Holley.  Holley retired the first batter he faced, but Ismael Tijerina lined a single to center to scored Gamboa and give Brooklyn a 3-2 advantage.  The lead would swell to 4-2 when Holley uncorked a wild pitch that allowed Peguero to score and cap the scoring on the night.

Kevin McGowan and David Wynn combined for three scoreless innings of relief to set up Johnny Magliozzi who tossed a scoreless ninth to close out the Cyclones victory and collect his ninth save of the season.

Tonight’s game marks the end of the 2013 season for the Brooklyn Cyclones, who didn’t make the playoffs for only the fourth time in 13 seasons of franchise history.  However, the franchise continued their streak of winning baseball as tonight’s victory gave the Cyclones a 38-37 record on the season.  Brooklyn is one of only four teams in affiliated baseball, joining the Arizona League Giants, Elizabethton Twins and New York Yankees, as the only teams to never finish below .500 since 2001.

Press Release