Yankees, Cyclones play 20 in opener

Twenty innings, 553 pitches, 136 at-bats and 41 strikeouts later, there was finally a winner on Coney Island.

Ricardo Ferreira lifted a sacrifice fly in the 20th inning Friday night as Class A Short Season Staten Island outlasted Brooklyn, 3-2, in a 5 1/2-hour New York-Penn League season opener at MCU Park. 

Staten Island set franchise records by fanning 19 Cyclones and striking out 22 times as the Yankees went 13-for-71 (.183) as a team. Brooklyn also made history in both strikeout categories, managing seven hits in 65 at-bats (.108).

Ironically, the Cyclones grabbed the lead in the bottom of the first when Enmanuel Zabala smacked a leadoff homer.

Staten Island plated two in the fourth as Mandy Alvarez doubled in a run, took third on Dalton Blaser's single and came home on Kendall Coleman's sacrifice fly.

Brooklyn answered in the bottom of the inning on Darryl Knight's RBI triple, but it turned out to be the last run for 16 innings.

The Yankees' bullpen combined to throw 14 scoreless innings. Justin Kamplain struck out four and gave up one hit over 2 1/3 frames, Michael Schaub fanned three over four one-hit frames and Eduardo Rivera worked around ahit and a walk by striking out two in three innings.

Claudio Custodio (1-0), who played for Staten Island as an infielder in 2012, finished off the marathon with three scoreless frames.

Seven Cyclones relievers combined on 12 scoreless innings before second baseman Franklin Correa shut out the Yankees in the 18th and 19th. Infielder Dionis Paulino (0-1) walked the bases loaded in the 20th before Ferreira plated the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly to center field.

Staten Island starter Adonis Rosa gave up two runs on three hits with six strikeouts in six innings, while Brooklyn counterpart Gabriel Llones yielded a pair of runs on six hits and two walks over five frames.

Blaser was 4-for-6 and walked twice for the Yankees, who got three hits and an RBI from Alvarez. Knight tripled and singled for the Cyclones.