Courtesy Vermont Lake Monsters
BROOKLYN, NY — After Brooklyn had scored the tying run in the bottom of the ninth inning on a two-out throwing error and RBI double, the Vermont Lake Monsters scored the eventual winning run in the top of the 10th on a wild pitch for a 3-2 New York-Penn League victory over the Cyclones Tuesday night at MCU Park.
With two outs and no one on and Vermont leading 2-1 in bottom of ninth, Antoine Duplantis reached on a throwing error by third baseman Jordan Diaz (who was shifted into second base position) that went off glove of first baseman Dustin Harris with Duplantis roughly 10 feet from base. Gavin Garay followed with an RBI double to tie the game 2-2.
Shane Selman began the 10th inning as the placed runner at second and advanced to third on a Josh Watson sacrifice bunt before scoring on a Matt Mullenbach wild pitch. Vermont reliever Jose Mora got a pair of strikeouts and a groundout with the tying run placed at second in the 10th to seal the victory.
Mora (2-0), who was charged with the unearned run in the ninth for his first blown save of season after 11 consecutive saves, finished with five strikeouts over the final 2 2/3 innings. Over his last 12 appearances, Mora still has a 0.00 ERA with four hits allowed, five walks and 34 strikeouts in 16 2/3 innings.
Vermont had jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first as Logan Davidson (2-for-5) led off with a single and scored on a Jordan Diaz two-out RBI single. It was Diaz’s league-leading 47th RBI of the season, tying him with Matt Watson (1999) for 5th-most in a season with the Lake Monsters. Kyle McCann added an RBI double in fourth to plate Jose Rivas (2-for-4).
Lake Monsters starter Richard Morban retired 15 of first 18 batters faced before allowing back-to-back two-out singles in the sixth. Wilmer Reyes followed with RBI single off reliever Carlos Sanchez to cut Vermont lead to 2-1. Morban allowed one run on four hits with no walks and seven strikeouts over 5 2/3 innings, the longest outing of the season for any Vermont starter.
The victory snapped a Vermont (31-39) four-game losing streak overall and a streak of five straight losses in games played at Brooklyn (39-30), which is now tied with Aberdeen for second-place in the McNamara Division one game behind Hudson Valley.
The Lake Monsters return to historic Centennial Field for their final three home games of the season with 7:05 pm starts through Friday against the Connecticut Tigers, starting with the series opener on Wednesday that includes the chance for fans to see and take pictures with the Boston Red Sox 2018 World Series Trophy.