Bryant, Cyclones spin within win of title

Garrison Bryant made his first professional postseason start Sunday. It probably won't be his last.
The Mets right-hander allowed just one hit and three walks over six scoreless innings to lead Class A Short Season Brooklyn to a 2-1 win over Lowell at Edward A. LaLacheur Park in the opener of the best-of-3 New York-Penn League Championship Series.

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Even on a more pressurized stage, Bryant didn't take the mound feeling any anxiety.
"I wasn't really nervous at all," he said. "I haven't really been nervous all year ... get the first pitch of the game for a strike, that's all that matters. If you can do that, the rest is just getting into the flow of the game."
The 2016 36th-round pick did get a whiff on his first pitch against Gilberto Jimenez and settled in accordingly. He sat down the Spinners in order over the first three frames and didn't get into any trouble until the fourth. He issued a one-out walk to Jaxx Groshans to begin the inning, but he was thrown out at second on a fielder's choice by Stephen Scott. Joe Davis slapped a single to left field, but Bryant got Red Sox No. 14 prospect Cameron Cannon to ground into a forceout.
Bryant motored through his start without any run support, but that didn't unnerve him.
"I don't really look at the score," he said. "It's fun when you get a bunch of runs and you get to see your guys really going on offense, but they had good pitching too on the other side. You got to go up there, just trust your stuff and just keep throwing what you're throwing, just [get] that weak contact, get your guys back in the box as soon as possible."
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Brock Bell went two innings and Jorge Rodriguez followed with five dominant frames as Lowell kept the game scoreless through the seventh. In the eighth, the Spinners brought in southpaw Tom Windle, who gave up a leadoff single to left field by Mets No. 2 prospectBrett Baty.
Ranfy Adon followed with a double to left in the next at-bat and Brooklyn brought in Jose Peroza to hit for catcher Jake Ortega. Peroza lofted a sacrifice fly to right that scored Baty. Antoine Duplantis followed with another sacrifice fly that plated Adon with an insurance run.
Right-hander Jared Biddy closed out the game with two hitless innings to earn the win. Righty Matt Mullenbach issued walks to Joe Davis and Nick Decker before Boston's No. 19 prospect Nicholas Northcut singled in pinch-runner Luke Bandy off right-hander Reyson Santos. Roldani Baldwin grounded into a forceout to strand the tying run at third.
Game 2 will be played at 6:30 p.m. ET on Monday in Brooklyn. If necessary, Game 3 will follow at MCU Park, which has Cyclones feeling good as they head home one win away from their second league title.
"We play a lot better at home," he said. "We definitely feed off of that Brooklyn crowd. We play a lot better at home, so we get a win on the road, and now we've got to win one of two at home to win the whole thing. It's just a big confidence boost."