Baseball: Monsters Stop Skid, Top Yankees 6-3

Posted on by George Commo

Courtesy Vermont Lake Monsters

BURLINGTON — Vermont scored four times in the bottom of the fourth inning on a Marcos Brito two-run single and Jonah Bride two-run double as the Lake Monsters snapped a seven-game losing streak with a 6-3 victory over the Staten Island Yankees in New York-Penn League action Sunday evening at historic Centennial Field.

Staten Island starter Matt Sauer had retired the first seven Lake Monsters, but then loaded the bases with one out in the third on a hit batter and pair of walks. Marcos Brito followed with the line drive two-run single to left tying the game 2-2, then after a strikeout and another walk, Jonah Bride grounded a 1-0 pitch down the leftfield line for the 2-run double and 4-2 Lake Monsters lead.

The Yankees had taken a 2-0 lead in second on a Canaan Smith RBI double and Jesus Bastidas RBI single off Vermont starter Aaron Reuss (4-2), who allowed three runs on five hits with two walks and four strikeouts over five innings to earn the victory.

After Staten Island had cut the lead to 4-3 on a Josh Breaux two-out RBI double in the top of the fifth, the Lake Monsters manufactured a run in the bottom of fifth as Brito walked, stole second, advanced to third on a groundout and then scored on a two-out wild pitch.

Vermont added another run in the sixth as Anthony Churlin doubled with one out and Robert Mullen doubled for the second straight at bat with two outs. Staten Island loaded the bases in the top seventh on a one-out walk and a pair of two-out free passes, but Slater Lee came on to record a called strikeout and keep the Vermont lead at 6-3.

Lee then tossed a 1-2-3 eighth inning and allowed a leadoff single in the ninth before retiring the final three Yankees (two by strikeout) to secure his team-leading sixth save of the season and give Vermont its first win since August 9th.

Mullen was 2-for-3 with a walk, run scored and the two doubles, while Churlin went 2-for-4 with a run and double as four of the Lake Monsters six hits went for doubles. Brito was 1-for-3 with a walk, two runs scored and the two-run single, while Eduardo Torrealba had two of the six hits in the game for Staten Island (31-27).

The homestand continues for Vermont (28-32) with the first of a three-game series against the Aberdeen Ironbirds 7:05 pm on Monday at Centennial, which also includes the third-and-final 25-cent “Hot Dog Heaven” of the season.