The Renegades snap a two-game losing streak Monday night in Brooklyn defeating the Cyclones 3-2 in front of 7,107 fans at KeySpan Park.
Frank De Los Santos took the mound for the second time this season. In his second outing of the year he hurled 5.1 innings, struck out four batters and allowed two runs on four hits while recording his first win of the season.
On a night when the Renegades pitchers where dominating the mound the Renegades bats came alive combining for 12 hits with 11 of those hits coming in the form of singles. Every player in the Renegades starting lineup, except for catcher Mark Thomas, recorded a hit.
The Renegades had a chance to put the first run on the board in the top of the third. With one out and runners on first and second Michael Ross hit a towering fly ball that looked to be flying over the outfield fence but was held in by the 21 mph twirling winds at KeySpan Park.
The Renegades had yet another opportunity to score first in the top of the third. With bases loaded and two outs Michael Sheridan came to bat for the Renegades. Coming into the game Sheridan was batting .471 which was good enough for second in the New York Penn League. Sheridan was unable to capitalized grounding out to the first baseman to close out the inning.
The Cyclones struck in the bottom third to give them a one-run lead. Brandon Richey led the inning off with a triple to right field. Richey scored during the next at-bat on a Matthew Bouchard groundout to shortstop Robi Estrada.
The Renegades bounced right back scoring two runs off the bat of designated hitter Jacob Jefferies. With the bases loaded and no outs Jefferies hit a RBI single to left field allowing both Jason Corder and Mike McKenna to score giving the Renegades a one-run lead.
The Renegades were able to plate an insurance run in the top of the fourth giving the Renegades a 3-1 lead. Estrada started the inning off with a line-drive single to right field. He quickly moved around the base path and eventually scored from third on a Mike McKenna single to right field.
The Cyclones attempted to come back in the bottomg of the sixth plating one run off the bat of Kirk Nieuwenhuis. Nieuwenhuis' groundout allowed Bouchard to score from third brining the score to its final 3-2.
With a 3-2 led the Renegades brought in relievers Thomas Rafferty and Matt Gorgen to close out the game. Rafferty threw 2.2 innings of hitless baseball while striking out four. Gorgen earned his first save of the season pitching a hitless ninth inning.
The Renegades head back home Tuesday night to take on the Brooklyn Cyclones for game two of the three-game series. The Renegades will be giving the ball to right-hander Christopher Andujar (0-0, 15.00) and RHP Manny Olivares (0-1, 1.80) will be on the mound for Brooklyn.
