Manoah, Woodmansee pace Cyclones to win

Class A Short Season Brooklyn manager Tom Gamboa is watching Erik Manoah mature as a professional right in front of his eyes. The right-hander's dominant outing Sunday provided the latest proof of that.

"Today was his best outing as a pro," Gamboa said. "I've seen Erik a lot over the last couple of years. In the past, he's had a tendency to let himself get flustered by some things out of the norm -- an umpire's call or an error -- and dwell on it, kind of adding fuel to the fire. He worked hard all spring down in Florida in all of his outings and stayed a true professional. Today, in front of a capacity crowd, Erik's mound presence and the way he conducted himself was like a big leaguer."

The 20-year-old Mets prospect yielded just one hit and one walk over six innings in the Cyclones' 1-0 shutout of Hudson Valley at MCU Park. Manoah struck out four and retired the final 11 batters he faced. 

"He stayed focused the entire time," Gamboa said. "Mechanics-wise, he's had problems thus far in his career in overthrowing his pitches and end up pitching from behind the count. Today, he stayed with his mechanics and pitched ahead of the guys. There was only one ball I recall that was hit hard, and our left fielder [Enmanuel Zabala] made a diving catch to get it."

The only hitters to reach base against the 2014 13th-rounder were Rays fourth-ranked prospect Garrett Whitley, who had an infield single in the first inning, and Bill Pujols, who drew a walk in the third.

"He's got three pitches -- fastball, breaking ball and a changeup," Gamboa said. "He mixed them well and had hitters off balance. He was on a 90-pitch limit, but after he threw 77 and going six shutout innings, I wanted to make sure he left the outing on an up note. I'm very proud of Erik. I've seen him mature two years in the last three months and it's a big factor in his development."

The Cyclones didn't need much on the offensive end, but Arizona State University product Colby Woodmansee provided half of his team's eight hits and scored the lone run.

"Arizona State has a long history as one of the top college programs in the country," Gamboa said. "For whatever they do there, they produce hitters from the days of Reggie Jackson and Bob Horner. Now they got another guy in Woodmansee, and this guy is just a hitting machine."

The fifth-round pick in this year's Draft was 7-for-19 coming into Sunday's contest. He singled up the middle to lead off the second and lined a double to left in the fourth before scoring on Jacob Zanon's single two batters later.

"He's very confident and relaxed at the plate," Gamboa said. "He hit four bullets today. Fortunately on one of them, he made a good turn and took an extra base on it. That turned out to be huge because he ended up scoring the only run of the game."

Woodmansee added a single to left in the sixth and an infield single to third in the eighth while helping get seven outs on the defensive end.

"He's an outstanding shortstop with good action, a strong arm and great feet," Gamboa said. "He's a consummate guy and a good pick by the Mets."

Manoah and Woodmansee delivered before a crowd of 7,851, due to the addition of Jose Reyes. He went 0-for-3 while playing third base in his debut Sunday.

The four-time All-Star, who left the organization as a free agent after the 2011 season, signed a Minor League deal with the Mets on Saturday after getting released by the Rockies.

"It's a good experience for the young guys," Gamboa said. "When Reyes comes in here, he's someone they have seen on TV, and the youngsters get to share a locker room with him. He's a very personable guy, easy to talk to. For them to spend some time with him and pick his brain and watch the way he prepares himself, it's huge.

"Today at noon, to see Jose out here before anyone and taking ground balls, making throws to first and second since the Mets want to try him at third base now. You can see the pride he takes in his work ethic. Reyes is a star big leaguer and he took his batting practice, ran the bases and did all the things like everybody else. There was a lot more electricity in the ballpark and that makes it fun for everyone to play in front of a capacity crowd like that."

Raul Jacobson completed the final three innings. He allowed three hits and struck out three to pick up his first save of the season.