By Brandon Colon
After defeating the Aberdeen IronBirds 3-1 Sunday Afternoon the Staten Island Yankees came into tonight winning three games in a row. Their starting pitching and bullpen has been stellar to start the season and tonight would no different.
Photo: Staten Island Yankees by Brandon Colon
Jorge Guzman would take the mound in his second start of the season, he won his first match-up against the Brooklyn Cyclones. Guzman had control of all the pitches in his arsenal tonight going 6.0 innings, striking out 7, not allowing a run and leading the Baby Bombers to a 7-0 win over the IronBirds.
“I felt confident tonight on the mound and I felt like I could get the job done,” said Guzman through a translator. “I wanted to make sure I used my breaking balls today after working on it a lot in Tampa,” he added.
The 21 year-old right-handed pitcher is in his first season in the New York Yankees organization and with the Staten Island Yankees. Guzman showed a lot of potential in tonight’s game with multiple pitches in the high 90’s and plenty reaching 100-102 miles per hour.
“I enjoy watching him pitch he competes all the time, he used his breaking balls a lot today which is a good thing for a guy who throws that hard,” Manager Julio Mosquera. “He knew what he wanted to do out there and he executed today and did a good job.”
The Baby Bombers got the scoring started in the first inning taking advantage of Aberdeen pitcher Nick Vespi’s struggles with command. A bunt single, hit by pitch and a walk loaded the bases, which allowed Leonardo Molina to bring a run in on his single. They would add one more in the first inning after a bases loaded walk.
Scoring early on in games has been a common occurrence in this young season for the SI Yankees. They have scored in the first three innings in the last three games, giving their pitchers and bullpens leads to hold onto.
“That’s what we try to do, we try to play the game hard,” said Mosquera. “Every time they give us an opportunity to score runs we going to take advantage of that stuff.”
The Baby Bombers would add to their lead in the bottom of the 5th inning, thanks in large part to errors and the IronBirds bullpen struggling. A Chris Hess double started off the inning and after a passed ball put him on third, a dropped fly ball by right fielder Tristan Graham allowed Hess to score. A Carlos Vidal single brought in one more run while the Ironbirds’ relievers struggled to find the plate, which walked in another run.
The SI Yankees would add two more runs in the bottom of the 7th inning making it 7-0 a lead the bullpen would have no trouble handling. Using three relievers to close out 3 hit shutout of the Ironbirds.
Chris Hess who started the game on the bench came into the game in the bottom of the 2nd to pinch run for the injured second baseman Oswaldo Cabrera. Hess would use that opportunity to come in and get the first hit of his young career a double to right field.
“I felt a little bit more relaxed because I was thinking I was getting the day off, so when they threw me in there I was just saying to myself to roll with it,” said Hess. “Everyone kept saying the first one is the hardest one to get so once you get it so you just keep playing from there.”
Next up the Baby Bombers head up to Vermont to take on the Lake Monsters (Oakland A’s affiliate) at Centennial Field. They hope to boost their winning streak to 5 games tomorrow night at 7:05 p.m.
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