Staten Island Yankees Game Recap

The Staten Island Yankees came in to this weekend’s series against the defending New York Penn-League champion Tri-City Valleycats (41-20) on a high note after their sweep of the Connecticut Tigers. However, on Friday night, the Baby Bombers dropped the first game of their series with the Houston Astros’ affiliate by a score of 5-2. With the loss, Staten Island drops to 30-30 on the season and due to a win by Brooklyn, the team is now 2.5 games behind the Cyclones for the Wild Card. Plus, Staten Island is now 0-4 against Tri-City this year and 1-9 against the Tri-City affiliate over the last two seasons.

The scoring started in the first inning for Tri-City against Staten Island starter Jordan Montgomery. Leadoff hitter Alex Presley, who is on an Astros’ rehab assignnment, led off the game with a triple to right field. Two batters later, Jamie Ritchie, Tri City’s All-Star catcher, would drive Presley in on a RBI groundout to short to make it 1-0 Valleycats.

Tri-City threatened for more runs in the second inning with the bases loaded and two outs against a combination of Montgomery (1.2 IP, 2 R {1 ER}, 2 H, 2 K’s, 1 BB) and Jordan Foley. Foley was faced with a bases-loaded, two out jam in the second inning, but catcher Luis Torrens had one of his two passed balls on the night that allowed a run to score and make it 2-0.

Staten Island would answer back in the bottom of the second with a pair of runs as well. After an Austin Aune one-out double, Torrens cracked a double down the left field line to score Aune and put the Baby Bombers on the board. Later in the inning, Renzo Martini would score Torrens on a single to center field that tied the game at two. Those were the only two runs Staten Island would get against Austin Chrisom, who improved to 6-2 on the season by giving up those two runs on five hits in five innings of work, striking out five.

Tri-City would come up with two runs in the top of the fifth inning, one against Foley and the other against reliever Matt Wotherspoon. After Foley gave up a one-out double to Derek Fisher, Wotherspoon would come in to the game.

With Wotherspoon in, Terrell Joyce would single to left field to put runners at the corners, setting the stage for Mott Hyde to hit a two-run double into the left field corner to re-take the lead for the Valleycats, 4-2. Tri-City would add a run in the top of the eighth after the second passed ball by Torrens with Sam Agnew-Weiland on the mound, made it 5-2.

One of the things that Tri-City did well tonight that showed why they are the best hitting team in the league (.274) is their ability to not swing at bad pitches. Tonight, they worked six walks against Staten Island pitchers. I asked manager Mario Garza after the game about whether the walks were from a lack of command from his pitchers or Tri-City’s approach at the plate:

"“Little bit of both. Those guys are good hitters. They have proven they have a good offensive approach, “ said manager Mario Garza. “But, I think we need to do a little better job of throwing the ball over the plate as well.”"

As for Agnew-Weiland, he had one of his best performances of the season, giving up one run on one hit in two innings of work and striking out five of the seven batters he faced. Agnew-Weiland’s 30 strikeouts on the season are tied with Foley and Andury Acevedo for third on the team. Garza told me that he was proud of Agnew-Weiland for making those adjustments to be successful:

"“I told him [Agnew-Weiland] that it was really good,” remarked Garza. “His fastball had some life. He just had a better feel today than he has in the past and I’m proud of him for making those adjustments.”"

Chrismon picked up the win, while Jordan Foley (0-2, 4.61) took the loss for Staten Island. Tri-City all-star closer Ryan Thompson would record his ninth save in ten chances with the win.

YGY SI Yankees Recap: Tri-City Snaps Staten Island’s 4-Game Win Streak With 5-2 Win

By Ricky Keeler | Aug 16, 2014