YGY SI Yanks Recap: Beresford Shines, but Yankees’ Bats Go Cold in 1-0 Loss To Aberdeen
By Ricky Keeler
After a walk-off win on Tuesday night against the Aberdeen Ironbirds (Baltimore Orioles), the Staten Island Yankees fell to 3-3 in New York-Penn League action with a 1-0 loss at the Richmond County Bank Ballpark in St. George. The game-winning hit came on a RBI single to center field by Aberdeen left fielder Manny Hernandez in the top of the sixth inning. For the Ironbirds, it was their first victory of the young season, but Staten Island had plenty of chances to win this game.
One of those chances came in the bottom of fourth inning when left fielder Brady Steiger lined a base hit to right field, one of the two times he reached base on the night. Unfortunately, designated hitter Nathan Mikolas was thrown out on a play at the plate to keep the Baby Bombers off the board. In the bottom of the eighth inning, with the score 1-0, second baseman Jose Javier reached first base on an infield single to start the inning. However, when the throw got away from the first baseman, Javier tried to advance to second base and was thrown out.
The starter for Staten Island, Andy Beresford, pitched well in his outing. Over the course of four innings, Beresford gave up three hits, did not allow a run, struck out two and walked one. This was a unique start for Beresford because this was the first start he made in his pro career after pitching in relief in 19 appearances for last year’s SI squad, as well as, six relief outings in Charleston earlier this year. After the game, I talked with manager Mario Garza about his impressions on how Beresford did in his outing:
"“Excellent, right on track. His sinker was working, his slider was over the plate,” replied Garza. “There are a lot of good things that he can take out of tonight.”"
The one inning that did the Baby Bombers in was the sixth inning. It started when catcher Alex Murphy led off the inning by hitting a double to deep right field. After advancing to third on a Conor Mullee wild pitch, Hernandez would hit a single through a drawn in infield to give the Ironbirds the lone run of the game. Mullee would take the loss for Staten Island, while Aberdeen reliever Stefan Crichton got the win by throwing three scoreless innings. Garrett Cortright would pick up the save for the Ironbirds.
Staten Island still got some great outings from its relievers, who kept the damage at one run. One player to highlight was reliever Francis Joseph, who walked four Brooklyn Cyclones in 1.1 innings on opening night. On Wednesday night, Joseph was in control of his pitches, striking out three Ironbirds and giving up one hit in 1.2 innings.
Catcher Collin Slaybaugh had the team’s lone extra-base hit in the loss, a double down the left field line in the third inning. David Palladino gets the ball for the Baby Bombers tomorrow night in the rubber game of the three-game series at 7:00 PM ET