Cyclones, Staten Island Yankees locked in tight division race

Brooklyn and Staten Island running neck and neck

July 21, 2015 By John Torenli, Sports Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Brandon Brosher’s three-run homer in the eighth inning and Jeff Diehl’s sacrifice fly in the ninth kept Brooklyn tied for first place with rival Staten Island in the tight race for the McNamara Division title. Photo courtesy of the Brooklyn Cyclones

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After more than four decades in Major League-affiliated baseball, Tom Gamboa is quick to recognize a tight pennant race.

“[Our division] will be a battle,” the Brooklyn Cyclones’ second-year skipper noted earlier this month. “It’s still so early and everybody is still getting their feet on the ground. We won’t really look at the race until early August.”

Something tells me the Baby Bums are already scoreboard-watching as the 76-game grind of a New York-Penn League season approaches its midway point.

That’s because Brooklyn and arch rival Staten Island stood deadlocked atop the McNamara Division standings with identical 18-11 records entering Tuesday night’s action.

And that was only because the Cyclones found a way to rally past the Vermont Lake Monsters, 5-4, on a sizzling Monday afternoon at Coney Island’s MCU Park.

Trailing 4-1 entering the home half of the eighth inning, Brooklyn drew even on Brandon Brosher’s three-run homer and walked off with the key victory when Jeff Diehl delivered a game-ending sacrifice fly in the ninth.

The come-from-behind win provided at least some relief to the 6,669 Brooklyn baseball fanatics who withstood the at-times torturous heat and humidity along Surf Avenue.

It also kept the Cyclones from dropping behind the Yankees, who completed a three-game sweep of Lowell Monday with their second straight walk-off win.

The Verrazano rivals, who have split six meetings this season, won’t see each other again until Aug. 9, meaning they’ll be keeping close tabs on one another from afar for the next few weeks.

Staten Island took two of three from Brooklyn last week, cutting into the Cyclones’ early season advantage following the Baby Bums’ red-hot 14-5 start.

Each one of those contests was decided by just one run, and Brooklyn’s league-worst offense was blanked, 1-0, by the Yankees in the series’ middle game at MCU Park.

“They pitch good. I tip my hat to their pitching, but we just have to gut it out,” Gamboa said following the shutout defeat and before his team rebounded with a series-ending one-run win over the Yanks before Vermont came to town.

“All we can do is be positive and persistent and patient with the program,” he added. “When you press because nobody’s hitting, you wind up expanding your strike zone. It’s contagious.”

So is finding a way to win despite having by far the worst team batting average in the league.

“There’s 14 teams in this league, we’re at [.227] and the next-to-last team (Lowell) is at [.234],” Gamboa noted. “We’re just putting too much pressure on our pitching.”

Thus far, Brooklyn hurlers haven’t folded beneath the lack of offensive support.

Seemingly headed toward their sixth loss in eight games Monday, the Cyclones finally found some offensive rhythm.

Michael Bernal reached on an error, Diehl walked and Brosher crushed a pitch over the left-field wall to draw Brooklyn even with the Lake Monsters.
In the ninth, pinch-hitter Tucker Tharp sparked the decisive rally with a single, Vinny Siena followed with a one-out base hit and Bernal walked before Diehl, who hit a two-run homer in Brooklyn’s 4-3 win at Staten Island on Friday night, drove the game-winning sac fly to deep center.

It was just enough to help Brooklyn stay even with the Baby Bombers as it hits the road for the next seven games, beginning with Tuesday night’s scheduled tilt at West Virginia.

The Cyclones will not be home against until July 29, when they host Hudson Valley.

By then, Brooklyn had better find some consistent offense to back what is shaping up as the most formidable starting rotation and bullpen in the league.

Otherwise, they’ll likely spend the rest of the long, hot, steamy summer looking up at the Yankees in the standings.

This, That and the Other Thing: Four of the first six meetings between the Yanks and ‘Clones this season have been decided by one run. … Brooklyn’s longest road trip of the summer will see it visit West Virginia and Mahoning Valley for three-game series’ and a single contest on July 28 at Hudson Valley. … Brooklyn’s league-best 2.43 ERA has been bolstered by a dominant bullpen that is still yielding a shade less than a run per nine innings. The Cyclones also lead the 14-team circuit with four shutout victories. … 2B Siena has avoided falling into a slump despite Brooklyn’s offensive woes, ranking fifth in the league with a sizzling .352 average. The University of Connecticut alum amassed six hits, three runs scored and two RBIs in the Cyclones’ back-to-back wins over Vermont.