Yanks win pitchers' dual, 1-0, to complete sweep of Crosscutters
[Empty Body]
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
"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
The no-hit bid continued into the seventh inning when
The Yanks had the bases loaded in the bottom half of the eighth inning when
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.