Spinners walk off 6-5 over Staten Island

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Win number 30 for the Lowell Spinners may have been their most entertaining victory of the summer.

Down 5-1 heading into the bottom of the seventh, Lowell rallied with three runs to tie the game. In the eighth, they got another run, then finished the comeback with the walk off run on a Steve Reveles single through a drawn in infield. They get a brief home stand off on a grand note 6-5 winners over Staten Island.

After the game Manager, Iggy Suarez said: “his team still has some fight left in them and it’s good to see”. The win goes to Brendan Nail who just days earlier was throwing pitches in the Cape Cod League before he was spotted by the Red Sox and signed to a contract. As Suarez pointed out the kid has been impressive in his two appearances since being assigned to Lowell.

The Yankees came to Lelacheur Park with the best pitching staff in the NYPL. Earlier on in this one that talent was on display. Starting pitcher Jonathan Loaisiga was a strikeout machine as he would strike out nine of the 16 batters he faced in his 4.1 innings of work.

Meanwhile, Lowell’s Yorvin Pantoja was back on the hill still seeking his first win of the campaign. He would give up two runs in his outing which lasted four innings. The runs came on one swing of the bat by Timmy Robinson, a big fly over the wall in left with a man aboard. The HR was his team leading seventh of the year and the RBI were numbers 21 and 22 also leading the team.

The Yankees would increase their lead by using the long ball again. They hit a total of three on the night against reliever Taylor Ahearn. There was Manny Argomaniz with a man on in the sixth off a message sign in left his first of the season. Then in the seventh, Cody Brown took Ahearn deep to right inside the foul pole for a solo home run, his second of the year, it was 5-1 Yankees.

The Spinners comeback began in the home half of the seventh. A three-run inning with the help of only one hit brought the home team to within a run at 5-4. The rally started against relief pitcher Josh Roeder, a single to left by Zack Sterry was followed by a hit. Alexander Martinez then walked to load the bases for Tanner Nishioka. During his at bat, Nishioka would strike out but the ball would get away from Catcher Keith Skinner and would roll to the backstop. Sterry would score from third, and in a daring bit of base running Hamilton would slide home safely from second to make the score 5-3. Suarez called Hamilton’s play the turning point of the game. Martinez would later score on a RBI ground out by Charlie Madden and suddenly we had a ballgame again at 5-4 Yankees.

In the eighth, the Spinners tied the game. Reveles would reach on a throwing error by SS Wilfrin Mateo, one of five Staten Island errors on the night. He would come around to score the tying run on a triple to the right center field capped by Marino Campana off Will Jones 5-5 after eight.

Nail, who got out of a tight jam in the top of the eighth, left the go ahead run at third base by getting two strike outs and a ground ball to end the inning set down the Yankees in order in the ninth.

It would set the stage for the walk off. Martinez got it started with a walk of Jones. He moved to second on an infield single by Nishioka. With Madden at the plate and looking to sacrifice the runners along his bunt was a little too hard and Martinez was forced at third.

Michael Osinski then hit a high chopper to third baseman Jose Polonia whose throw across the diamond pulled first baseman Andy Krill off the bag for a throwing error, bases loaded with one out. With both the infield and outfield drawn in for a play at the plate, Reveles hit one in the hole between short and third to score Nishioka with the game winning run 6-5 Spinners.

Jones (3-1) takes the loss as well as a blown save. Nail gets his first pro win as a Spinner.
Tuesday night’s game two of the series takes place and first pitch is at 6:30 pm.