Brooklyn Pitching Dominates Asheville in 9-1 Series Opening Loss

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Asheville’s Nick Potter was excellent Tuesday night. Brooklyn’s Nicolas Carreño was better.

The Brooklyn Cyclones out-dueled the Tourists from the first pitch, winning 9-1 behind a dominant pitching performance that held Asheville to just six hits and never let the Tourists find any offensive rhythm.

Potter continued to make a case for himself in just his third start at HomeTrust Park. The Astros' 22nd-ranked prospect touched 100 miles per hour multiple times, punched out five of his six strikeouts looking, many of them on knee-high heaters that hitters could only watch go by, and finished his 52-pitch outing with two hits and one run allowed in 2.1 innings. He is starting strong at the High-A level.

Carreño was even sharper. The Brooklyn starter went 5.2 innings and allowed just one unearned run on two hits while striking out seven. The Cyclones bullpen followed with 3.1 scoreless innings and five more strikeouts to complete a thoroughly dominant pitching performance from a Brooklyn team that entered the night with the lowest batting average in baseball at .209.

John Spikerman broke the scoreless tie in the second, taking a 98-mile-per-hour Potter fastball and driving it over the right field wall for his first home run of the season. 1-0. Asheville answered immediately when a ground ball slipped past Brooklyn third baseman Anthony Jimenez and into left to score Anthony Huezo. 1-1.

Trey Snyder doubled off the wall in the third to give Brooklyn the lead back. Yeriel Santos relieved Potter and was solid, tossing 4.1 innings of one-run ball before being pulled with two outs in the seventh and two runners on base.

Anthony Cruz came on and the game got away. Ronald Hernandez broke for second and Cruz spun to fire that way, but Aiden Smith at third seized the moment and raced home to steal the plate on the double steal. After a Yonathan Henriquez walk to put runners on first and second, Spikerman stepped back in and unloaded a three-run home run to right-center. 6-1. Brooklyn never looked back. An RBI single from Snyder and another from Henriquez in the eighth made it 8-1, and Daiverson Gutierrez polished it off with a solo home run to the left field corner in the ninth. 9-1.

DJ Newman was the only Tourist with a multi-hit night, going 2-for-4 to extend his hit streak to fourteen games, one of the longest active streaks in baseball.

The loss comes at a tough time. Winston-Salem won Tuesday night, pushing Asheville three games back in the playoff race with the second half winding down.

The Tourists and Cyclones meet again Wednesday night at HomeTrust Park. Javier Perez takes the ball for Asheville against Brooklyn's Emilio Obispo. First pitch is set for 6:35 p.m.