The Aberdeen IronBirds missed a good opportunity to gain some playoff ground Wednesday night at Leidos Field at Ripken Stadium.
The IronBirds and Brooklyn Cyclones opened a huge three-game series that will have a major impact on the postseason. The teams came in tied, a game back of the Hudson Valley Renegades.
Brooklyn (40-30), though, jumped ahead 7-0 early and then held on for a 9-8 New York Penn League win over the IronBirds (39-31). The win put Brooklyn in a tie with Hudson Valley (40-30), a 3-2 loser at Staten Island (39-32), atop the McNamara Division standings.
Aberdeen remained a game out, a half game better than Staten Island, entering Thursday.
Aberdeen and Brooklyn were to play again Thursday and tonight (Friday) with first pitch set for 7:05 p.m. Tonight’s game is the final regular season home game and it is sold out. Aberdeen will close the season with three games at Hudson Valley; Saturday through Monday.
Wednesday’s game, delayed 56 minutes by rain, was all Brooklyn early. The Cyclones scored one in the second and six in the third, all but one run charged to starter Jake Lyons (2-5), who just didn’t have it. “You gotta give credit, he [Lyons] left a lot of balls out over the middle of the plate and they hit them hard,” IronBirds manager Kevin Bradshaw said. “So, give them a little credit, he just didn’t have a whole lot and he started out with two strikeouts and we thought it was pretty good. After that they hit him hard."
Lyons lasted 2.2 innings, charged with six earned runs on seven hits and a walk. He struck out five.
James Ryan came on to pitch an inning (4H, 2R, BB) before leaving with an undisclosed injury.
Marlon Constante was effective over 3.1 innings. He pitched shutout baseball, allowing two hits and striking out one.
Aberdeen came to life offensively in the bottom of inning three. A one-out walk to Lenin Rodriguez led to a double from Jaylen Ferguson and a two-run single by Mason Janvrin.
Kyle Stowers doubled to score Janvrin, but the 'Birds ran themselves out of a first and third situation. Janvrin took off for second and Stowers tried to come home, but the throw beat him and he was tagged out for the final out.
Brooklyn added an unearned run in the fourth and it proved big having the five run (8-3) lead.
Aberdeen scored four times in the sixth of one big Ferguson swing. A single by Joey Ortiz, double by Dalton Hoiles and walk to Rodriguez set the table for Ferguson (3-5), who blasted the ball well over the visitor’s clubhouse for a grand slam. The blast pulled the 'Birds to within a run, 8-7.
“The good thing is, we didn’t give up. We had our opportunities,” Bradshaw said. “I ran a first and third play after that first swing that [Andrew] Fregia took, wanting to get that fourth run, get a little bit closer, but we didn’t execute that. Then we had a chance to bunt a guy over and he got doubled off, late in the game, so we shot ourselves in our won foot a little bit.”
Connor Gillispie came on to pitch the final two innings for Aberdeen and he gave up a run as well, on two hits and a walk. He struck out one.
Down 9-7 in the eighth, Aberdeen scored again. Hoiles was hit by pitch leading off and a wild pitch sent him to second. Jean Carmona’s single drove in Hoiles. Carmona was picked off first base after the failed bunt attempt from pinch hitter Craig Lewis, who struck out two pitches later.
Stowers (3-5) gave the 'Birds chance in the ninth with a one-out single. He was at second with two away, but Ortiz (2-4) went down on strikes to end it.
“You don’t ever really want to say do-or-die, but tomorrow night we need to come out and give our best ball, the next two nights,” Bradshaw said. “Go into Hudson Valley with a chance and these guys came in here last time, we were doing OK and they swept us. So, they’re a good team, we’ve got to come out here tomorrow night and put it all together.”
4-2 road trip
The IronBirds closed out their important six-game road trip with a 2-0 loss, Tuesday night in Lowell, Mass.
The 'Birds closed the trip 4-2 to set up the biggest six games of the season to close out the New York Penn League schedule.
In Tuesday’s loss, the IronBirds were shut down again on just three hits. Ortiz, Stowers and Fregia each hit singles.
The Aberdeen batters also drew two walks, but scoring was just not in the cards.
Lowell, meanwhile, capitalized on a pair of Aberdeen errors to score two unearned runs. The runs were scored in the fifth and sixth innings.
The first came against starter Kevin Magee (5-6), who again pitched well enough to win. Magee pitched five innings, allowing five hits and striking out four.
Jordan Kipper, rehabbing with Aberdeen, came on in the sixth and he also was charged with an unearned run. Kipper allowed two hits and a walk, while striking out three over two innings.
Griffin McLarty pitched the final inning, giving up one hit and striking out three.