Courtesy Vermont Lake Monsters
BURLINGTON — Payton Squier went 3-for-4 with three RBI and starter Jhenderson Hurtado allowed one run over five innings as the Vermont Lake Monsters beat the Brooklyn Cyclones 7-3 in New York-Penn League action Saturday night at historic Centennial Field.
Vermont took 1-0 lead in second on Alfonso Rivas bases loaded walk and game stayed that way until the fifth when the Cyclones got a run on a Jose Brizuela RBI double off Hurtado (1-1), who allowed just the one run on five hits with one walk and five strikeouts over five innings to earn the win. Vermont pitchers had entered the game having allowed 53 of the opponents 79 runs over the first five innings.
The Lake Monsters retook the lead in the bottom of the fifth as Jameson Hannah reached on an error and later scored on a Jose Rivas RBI groundball single to left for a 2-1 Vermont advantage before the Lake Monsters added four more runs in the sixth.
Brooklyn reliever Tylor Megill struckout the first two Vermont batters he faced in the inning, but then struggled with his control as he hit Joseph Pena and then threw three straight wild pitches with Jeremy Eierman at the plate to score Pena with the first run of the sixth.
Megill then walked the bases loaded with free passes to Eierman, Hannah and Alfonso Rivas before Squier delievered a two-out, two-run single to rightfield with Rivas also scoring on an throwing error to the plate to give the Lake Monsters a 6-1 lead.
Brooklyn got a run back in the seventh as Brizuela doubled and scored on a Lake Monsters fielding error. Cyclones added another run in eighth on a two-out bases loaded walk before Brizuela, who was a member of the 2014 Lake Monsters, grounded out to end the inning with Vermont ahead 6-3.
Squier added an insurance run for Vermont in the eighth with another two-out RBI single scoring Jameson Hannah, who had doubled earlier in the inning to extend his hitting streak to nine straight games. The three hits for Squier extended his hitting streak to 11 consecutive games and the second-year Lake Monster is now hitting .452 overall for the season.
With the victory, the Lake Monsters took two-of-three games from Brooklyn and outscored the Cyclones 28-23 over the three games. Vermont (8-7) has now won three of its last four games after a five-game losing streak.
The homestand continues for Vermont (8-7) as they begin a three-game series against the Tri-City ValleyCats on Sunday starting at 5:05 pm. The first 1,000 fans will receive a free Lake Monsters tote bag and fans can also “Have A Catch” on the field following the game.