Cyclone Spit Balls Frazzle The Blue Rocks In 8-5 Loss

After evening up the series at 1-1 yesterday, the Blue Rocks fell behind again in their 8-5 loss to the Brooklyn Cyclones.

The Blue Rocks took the lead early in the game in the bottom of the first inning. After Robert Hassell III singled, Brooklyn starter Justin Lawson struggled with walks. He eventually walked the bases loaded, allowing T.J. White to ground into a fielder's choice, scoring Hassell III and making it 1-0.

The Brooklyn offense responded in the next inning with a pair of doubles. William Lugo hit a ground-rule double over the head of left fielder Johnathan Thomas. Christian Pregent followed up with a similar hit over center fielder Hassell III’s head, scoring Lugo to tie the game at 1-1.

The Blue Rocks regained the lead in the bottom of the third inning when White hit a rocket over the right-field wall, making it a 2-1 game.

Brooklyn responded in the next half-inning to tie the game again. After a leadoff walk, Lugo hit another double to put runners on second and third. Omar De Los Santos then singled to score Jefery De Los Santos from third.

The Cyclones took a big lead in the top of the sixth inning. Half of the runs came off the bat of Omar De Los Santos, who hit a three-run home run over the left-field wall. Christopher Suero, Jacob Reimer, and Jefery De Los Santos all hit doubles to score the other three runs, making it an 8-2 ballgame.

The Blue Rocks picked up one more run in the bottom of the sixth off a sacrifice fly from Hassell III, making it an 8-3 game.

The Rocks scored another run after a Joe Naranjo leadoff single and a Marcus Brown line-drive single that scored Naranjo, bringing the score closer at 8-4.

One more run was scored off a Maxwell Romero Jr. single, which brought the game to its final score of 8-5.

Riley Cornelio battled throughout the game and did not have great command, but he still gave his team a solid outing. His final line was five innings, five hits, two earned runs, five walks, and four strikeouts.

Chance Huff struggled out of the bullpen, finishing with a final line of 0.1 innings, three hits, six runs (two earned).

The rest of the bullpen had a good game, with Moises Diaz and Mason Denaburg combining for 3.2 innings and giving up no runs.

The Blue Rocks will try to tie the series again tomorrow at 6:35 on a fireworks night at Frawley Stadium.