Doubledays lose marathon in Brooklyn
NEW YORK, NY - So that's what it feels like to run 26 miles.
The Auburn Doubledays and Brooklyn Cyclones battled for three hours and 27 minutes on Wednesday night on Coney Island. And when it was all said and done, the home team ended up on top, 9-4.
Brooklyn broke it wide open in the second inning, and the Doubledays never really recovered. James Bourque (1-3) allowed seven runs and failed to finish the frame, though four of the runs were unearned thanks to an error by Cody Gunter on a hard grounder to third base early in the inning. Bourque has now allowed 13 unearned runs against eight earned runs as a Doubleday.
The inning started with four-pitch walk to Tyler Moore. Bourque then hit Will Fulmer and allowed a double to Joe Tuschak that plated Moore. Anthony Chavez tapped a soft grounder into the hole between third and short that scored Fulmer and moved Tuschak to third, and that's when Adrian Abreu hit the grounder to Gunter, who reached down and saw the ball go straight through his legs and into left field for another Brooklyn run. Bourque then forced a fielder's choice out of Amed Rosario and got Jhoan Urena to pop up for the second out.
With runners on first and third and Mets first-round pick Michael Conforto at the plate, the Cyclones executed a beautiful delayed double steal. First, Rosario took off from first, and Raudy Read threw down to try and end the inning. Rosario came in under Osvaldo Abreu's tag, and as Read threw to second, Chavez broke home. Abreu's throw back to the plate was too late, and the Cyclones led 4-0. Conforto followed with a clean RBI single to make it 5-0, went to third on Michael Bernal's ensuing base hit, and scored on a Bourque balk. An RBI double by Moore later, Bourque was pulled from the game.
The Doubledays fought back in the following inning. Matt Page knocked a one-out single, and Abreu and Cutter Dykstra both walked to load the bases. Bryan Langlois stroked an RBI single to score Page, and Jose Marmolejos hit a bloop that fell in behind Rosario at shortstop to bring home Abreu. Dykstra, believing the ball to be caught, didn't run from second and was forced out at third. After a wild pitch, Read struck out with runners on second and third to end the frame.
Down 8-2 after a Brooklyn insurance run, Auburn tried once again to get back into things in the fifth. Dykstra reached for the third consecutive plate appearance, but remained on first as Langlois and Marmolejos whiffed against reliever Mike Hepple. Read, as he's prone to do, scorched his team-leading 13th double of the season, and Austin Davidson followed with a single that brought in the Doubledays' star catcher. Dale Carey walked and Cody Gunter reached on an error at first by Fulmer, knocking Hepple out of the game and bringing Page to the plate as the tying run. But Paul Paez (1-0) struck out the Auburn leftfielder looking to end the Doubledays rally at 8-4.
Auburn and Brooklyn go at it on Thursday night at MCU Park. RHP Austen Williams (0-2, 6.89) ascends the mound for the Doubledays against Cyclones RHP Octavio Acosta (3-2, 2.14). Coverage begins with Doubledays Pregame at 6:50 on 98.1 FM and 1590 AM WAUB. Fans can download the WAUB app to their tablet or smartphone by searching for it on the app stores and Google Play, or they can stream the game on TuneIn here.