Spinners push win streak to six with 6-3 victory over Staten Island

Zeferjahn’s night ended one inning later than his first outing. Two innings where he gave up two hits and no runs with three punch outs. Kelvin Sanchez came on to take over the mound duty in the third for the Spinners. He was rudely introduced to the game as the second batter he faced, Oswaldo Peraza took him over the wall in left for his second home run of the season. That made it 1-0 Yankees in the third.

In the Spinners fourth, they would tie the game. After the first two batters went down by way of the K, Spinners catcher Elih Marrero ripped an opposite-field single to left. The next hitter, Nick Northcut brought Marrero home with a double to the gap in left-center field that one-hopped the wall. Lowell kept the line moving as Wil Dalton walked to create a first and second chance. Nick Decker had a shot, to break the tie. After a twelve-pitch at-bat, Munoz would win the battle and keep the game tied as he got Decker to ground out to first with the pitcher covering.

In the fifth, the Spinners took the lead with the help of the Yankees infield defense. Jonathan Diaz led off the inning with an infield hit to shortstop. One out later, leadoff hitter Alex Erro dropped a bunt down the third base line for a bunt single. Gilberto Jimenez, with runners at first and second, hit a slow roller to second that was booted by Yankees second baseman Ezequiel Duran. The error allowed Diaz to score and gave Lowell a 2-1 lead. Staten Island then went to their pen and brought on Baron Loseke. The first man he faced was Joe Davis who blooped a RBI single to right that scored Erro and gave Lowell a 3-1 advantage.

Sanchez’s night ended after four good innings of one-run baseball. He turned it over to his bullpen mates with a lead they were in charge of protecting. Miquel Suero was first up to do the job in the seventh. Suero did his job in the top half of the frame and his teammates were looking to add to their lead in the bottom of the seventh. Facing Marcus Evey, Lowell put a rally together. It started with a leadoff walk to Antoni Flores. After a fly out by Erro, Jimenez singled to left that moved Flores to second., Davis reached on a fielder’s choice to third that Jimenez beat the throw to second on. With the bases loaded, Marrero came through with a two-run RBI double to right that scored Flores and Jimenez with Davis going to third. 6-1 Lowell.

Staten Island pushed across two runs in the eighth. Jerry Seitz hit a ground ball that hit off the second base bag for one of those runs. The second one crossed on a sac fly to right by pinch hitter Andres Chaparro to make the score 6-3 Lowell. It stayed that way into the ninth and Brandon Nail was called on to close out the game for Lowell. Nail did just that to register his fourth save of the season. Sanchez (2-0) got the win and Munoz took the loss. His record is now 2-1.

After the game, Sanchez talked about being ready when he is called on. Saying “I am focused on being ready whether I am starting or relieving. He also said he has been working on his fastball and breaking pitches to make sure they are good. On Friday night, his curveball was very good, He said “I have been working on that since I started in DSL. Marrero talked about how the team kept the line moving. Saying “we handed it over to the next guy”. On Sanchez, he said “he did a really good job of working both sides of the plate. When asked about their winning ways, he said: “no one likes to use the L word”. Montz thought Sanchez made quality pitches through his outing and again praised his team for keeping the game simple and not trying to do too much.

The Spinners will try for a perfect homestand on Saturday at 5 pm vs Staten Island.