The Brooklyn Cyclones kicked off their summer with an impressive 5-4 Opening Day victory over the rival Staten Island Yankees at MCU Park on June 14.
The Cyclones used a balanced offense — seven of the nine starters recorded hits — and a dominant relief performance to clinch the win in front of a recorded attendance of 5,894 fans.
The Class-A affiliates were each held scoreless until the fourth inning, when first baseman Joe Genord smashed a home run — the first of his professional career — to give the Cyclones a 1-0 lead. That lead proved to be short-lived, however, as the Yankees tied the game in the fifth inning when Cyclones’ starting pitcher Daison Acosta balked in a run.
The Cyclones broke the game open in the sixth, when Nic Gaddis doubled in a run and gave Brooklyn two men in scoring position. Jose Miguel Medina followed with a two-run double, giving the Cyclones a 4-1 advantage.
Both teams added a run in the seventh, and the Yankees made things interesting after plating two runs in the eighth, but reliever Brian Metoyer recorded the final six outs — including four strike outs — to shut the door on the Yanks, giving the Cyclones their first win of the season.
The Cyclones completed their season-opening sweep of the Yankees with a closely contested 2-1 victory on Saturday in Staten Island.
Jose Mena plated Raul Beracietra with an RBI single in the fourth, and Genord’s seventh-inning sacrifice fly gave the Cyclones a 2-0 lead. The Yankees pulled to within one in the bottom half of the seventh when Ezequiel Duran scored on a wild pitch, but once again, the Cyclones’ bullpen squashed any chance of a Yankees comeback.
Brooklyn relievers combined to throw 2.1 innings of shutout ball. Andrew Edwards recorded the save, his first of the year, after starter Jaison Vilera allowed just one run in 6.2 innings
