Yankees head to All-Star break with win over ValleyCats, 6-3

After dropping the first two games of the series to the Tri-City ValleyCats (42-21), the Staten Island Yankees (31-31) avoided being swept with a 6-3 victory on Sunday afternoon.

The Baby Bombers offense exploded in the first inning as all nine batters in the order came to the plate. Collin Slaybaugh led off the game with a double to right field, followed by Isaias Tejeda doubling on a ball that bounced off the third base bag to plate Slaybaugh. Austin Aune was next up with a single to right field that scored Tejeda. Chris Breen, Connor Spencer and Vicente Conde collected three consecutive singles, plating two more runs to give Staten Island a 4-0 lead through one inning.

Staten Island starting pitcher and former first round pick Ty Hensley gave the Yankees a quality outing, allowing only one hit with four strikeouts in his three scoreless innings of work.

The ValleyCats offense remained quiet until the fifth inning as Jose Solano hit a double to left field, then scored on an Ariel Ovando single to center to put Tri-City on the board.

Tri-City struck again in the sixth inning. Juan Santana reached on an error by second baseman Jose Javier then Nick Tanielu hit a ground-rule double to right field to put both runners in scoring position. Ricky Gingras followed with a sacrifice fly ball to center field that scored Santana. Tanielu came across the plate later in the inning as a defensive miscue by Conde allowed Solano to reach base with two outs.

Leading by only one run in the bottom of the sixth inning, the Baby Bombers answered with another run of their own. Conde and Slaybaugh both drew walks before Javier slapped a single to right field to put the score at 5-3 in favor of Staten Island.

Javier came up big again for the Baby Bombers in the eighth inning as the second baseman hit a home run over the left field wall, giving the team a final lead of 6-3.

The Staten Island Yankees will be back at home on Wednesday at 7 p.m. as they host the Brooklyn Cyclones for Jewish Heritage Night featuring a special appearance by Major League Baseball's first designated hitter Ron Blomberg.