7/1/12

Welcome to Brooklyn, Brandon

by Christopher Gregory
Brandon Nimmo's seventh inning grand slam sent a capacity crowd of 7,939 home happy as the Cyclones knocked off the Aberdeen IronBirds 6-2 in the rubber match of a three game series on Saturday night at MCU Park.

Gabriel Ynoa pitched a solid game, going 6.0 innings while giving up three hits, surrendering two runs and striking out a career-high six batters. Tim Peterson (1-0) was the first pitcher out of the bullpen making his professional debut, and he earned the win after tossing 2.0 perfect innings.

The Cyclones wasted no time getting on the board this evening, putting up two runs in the first inning. After a sharp line out by Juan Gamboa to lead off the inning, Dimas Ponce and Phillip Evans both hit singles. Kevin Plawecki then came up and drew a walk to load the bases for the red-hot Cole Frenzel. He reached on a fielder’s choice allowing Ponce to score, and putting the Cyclones up 1-0. Stefan Sabol then came up and continued his hot hitting as he singled to left, scoring Evans and extending his hitting streak to six games. At the end of the first inning the Cyclones were up 2-0.

The IronBirds struck right back in the third inning with two runs. With Lucas Herbst and Anthony Caronia singling and each moving up a base due to a wild pitch by Ynoa, Roderick Bernadina stepped up with runners on second and third with two outs. He ripped a two-run double down the left field line. Ynoa limited the damage as he then struck out Creede Simpson to end the inning, but not before the game was knotted up at 2-2.

The Cyclones offense put up four runs in the bottom of the seventh to take a 6-2 lead. Phillip Evans led off the inning by hitting a double to the left center field wall followed up by a Kevin Plawecki ground out, moving Evans to third. Cole Frenzel was not able to bring in Evans as he also grounded out. Stefan Sabol and Nelfi Zapata both worked walks and the bases were loaded for Brandon Nimmo. With one swing of the bat, Nimmo hit his first home run of the season, and became the first player of the year to hit a grand slam, giving the Cyclones a 6-2 lead.

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