Yanks win pitchers' dual, 1-0, to complete sweep of Crosscutters

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The Staten Island Yankees (30-19) completed the sweep over the Williamsport Crosscutters (24-22) with a 1-0 win on Thursday afternoon. The Baby Bombers are the first team in the New York Penn-League to reach 30 wins this season.
The theme of the game was pitching yet again in this series as both starters on Thursday did not allow a hit. Opposing pitcher Spencer Howard pitched four hitless innings while striking out seven batters. Not to be outdone, Yankee starter Juan De Paula pitched six hitless innings and struck out five batters. De Paula also did not allow a run over the six innings and was able to work around leadoff walks in the first and second innings.
"I think he (De Paula) did a tremendous job out there today," said Staten Island manager Julio Mosquera. "Throwing strikes when he needed to, using his curveball, using his changeup; he attacked the hitters the whole day."
The Yankees did not pick up their first hit until the bottom of the fifth inning when Cesar Diaz picked up a single. The Yankees would then have runners on first and third with Wilkerman Garcia due up to the plate but would be unable to score the game's first run.
The no-hit bid continued into the seventh inning when David Palladino took over for the Yankees on the mound. He pitched a hitless seventh inning before giving up a two-out double in the eighth.
The Yanks had the bases loaded in the bottom half of the eighth inning when Timmy Robinson came to the plate. Pitcher Luis Ramirez threw a wild pitch that got away from the catcher and scored Andy Diaz with the game's deciding run.
Andy Diaz not only scored the only run of the game, but he also threw out a runner way back in the second inning at home plate, a defensive play that proved to be a deciding factor later in the game.
"He's (Andy Diaz) a really, really good defender out there," Mosquera said. "I knew when they hit the ball over there we had a pretty good shot, because he has a really good arm."
As for Andy Diaz's mad dash towards home, Mosquera praised Diazs' heads up base running, adding, "We work on that all the time. I told him it's a 0-0 game if that ball bounces, and he's got pretty good speed himself, so that helps a lot."
The Yankees now shift their focus to the Mahoning Valley Scrappers (29-20) for a three-game series. With the Aberdeen IronBirds losing Thursday, the Baby Bombers have a 2.5 game lead in the McNamara Division.