Tourists Ambushed Early, Can't Recover in 15-3 Loss to Brooklyn

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Parker Smith threw 34 pitches Saturday night and didn't record a single out. By the time the dust settled on the first inning, Brooklyn led 6-0 and the game was effectively over.

The Cyclones ambushed the Tourists early and never looked back, winning 15-3 to take a 3-2 series lead heading into Sunday's finale. It was a blowout from the jump, with Brooklyn scoring in five of the first six innings to put the game out of reach before Asheville could find any rhythm.

Smith allowed four hits, two walks, and six earned runs without retiring a batter. It was one of the roughest starts of any Tourists pitcher this season. Into the breach stepped Jhoster Baez, who had taken two flights from West Palm Beach earlier in the day to join the roster in time for the game. The Florida Complex League callup threw 75 pitches across three innings, allowing four runs on three hits while striking out four. It was a respectable effort given the circumstances of his travel day and the deficit he inherited.

Brooklyn wasted no time. A Xavier Neyens error on an Elian Peña grounder in the first allowed a run to score, Ronald Hernandez singled to score another, and a Yonatan Henriquez two-run double pushed it to 4-0. A John Spikerman two-run single capped the first at 6-0. The Cyclones added a Trey Snyder sacrifice fly in the second, an Aidan Smith RBI single in the third, and a Ronald Hernandez walk in the third to push it to 10-1 before Asheville had found the scoreboard.

John Garcia's RBI single in the second was the Tourists' only response through the first four innings, cutting it briefly to 7-1 before Brooklyn resumed adding to the lead. A Ronald Hernandez RBI single in the fifth made it 11-1. Caden Powell hit a solo home run to right-center in the bottom half, his 16th of the season, to make it 11-2, but Brooklyn responded with two more in the sixth on a Sammy Stafura single and a Peña RBI groundout to push it to 13-2.

Joan Ogando and Max Martin each threw a combined to keep the game from getting even further out of hand, but neither could fully stop the bleeding. Catcher Yosweld Vasquez closed the final inning without allowing a run and also picking up a strikeout of John Spikerman on a 90 mile-per-hour fastball at the knees. The crowd loved it.

Elian Peña added two more in the eighth on a single to make it 15-2. DJ Newman put one final Tourists run on the board in the ninth with a home run to right-center, his third for Asheville, to extend his hitting streak to 17 games, still the longest active streak in all of baseball.

Brandon Nigh went 2-for-4 for the only multi-hit game among the Tourists.

Asheville and Brooklyn wrap up the series Sunday at HomeTrust Park. Dylan Howard takes the ball for the Tourists against Brooklyn's Daviel Hurtado. First pitch is set for 1:05.