Cyclones topple Rome in home series

For the last week of July, the Cyclones found different ways to win during their last home stand to take four out of six games against the Atlanta Braves’ High-A affiliate, the Rome Emperors from Georgia. For manager Gilbert Gomez, this last series had all the right checkmarks in the boxes needed to win – good pitching and defense along with timely hitting.  

Brooklyn won the last game of the series in comeback fashion. In the ninth inning, trailing 6-4, Jefrey De Los Santos tied the game with a two-run homer to right field. Omar de Los Santos then followed as the next batter to win the game in walk-off style by hitting a solo home run to left field to take the home series 7-6.

Earlier in the week, the Cyclones took the first game of the series as the team’s leading hitter Nick Morabito proved to be the offensive and defensive star. Going 2-for-3, Morabito hit the game-winning single, while also stealing a base and scoring a run for the 3-1 win. In addition to hitting and running the basepaths, Morabito kept the game close by robbing a Rome batter of an extra base hit to center.

Also in another close game, the Wednesday afternoon matinee went down to the wire as pitcher Jack Winninger made his Brooklyn debut and threw five scoreless innings. Tied 1-1 going into the 10th inning, Wilfredo Lara also ended the game in walk-off fashion with an RBI single to win the game 2-1.

However, the most enjoyable game that fans witnessed during the series was a 12-5 Brooklyn win. With one of the team’s more successful pitchers starting the game, Kade Morris won his fourth game of the season by throwing 7.1 innings of no-hit baseball.  Morris took the game into the seventh inning, until the second Rome batter singled up the middle to break up a perfect game. Once into the seventh inning, fans were anxiously hoping for another no-hitter, just as the pitching staff threw last month. However, fans settled for Morris’ scoreless no-hit, no-walk outing as he left the mound to cheers in the seventh.

Actually, that would be the last time the fans would get to cheer Morris in a Brooklyn uniform. Little did Morris know that his seven-inning performance thrust the spotlight upon him to be considered in a trade to bring pitching help to the parent club, the New York Mets.

For Morris, the Mets picked up former Oakland A’s veteran pitcher Paul Blackburn, who was a 2022 All-Star. Looking for pitching help for their wild card run, the Mets’ trade paid an immediate dividend as Blackburn recorded his first win as a Met, pitching six innings, while giving up just one run on six hits and striking out six L.A. Angels in a 5-1 win.