Baseball: Monsters Win 6th Straight, Blow Past Brooklyn 9-3

Courtesy Vermont Lake Monsters

BURLINGTON — Jonah Bride scored the go ahead run in the fifth inning and extended his hitting streak to 10 straight games with an RBI double in the seventh as the Vermont Lake Monsters scored six runs over the final two innings to win their sixth straight decision with a 9-3 victory over the Brooklyn Cyclones Monday night in New York-Penn League action at historic Centennial Field.

After Brooklyn had tied the game 2-2 in the top of the fifth on a Ross Adolph RBI single, Bride led off the bottom of the fifth with a walk before advancing to third on a Jeremy Eierman single and scoring when Nick Osborne just beat out a potential inning-ending double play at first for an RBI forceout.

Bride then made it 4-2 in the seventh with a line drive RBI double to leftcenter to score Marcos Brito, who had led off the inning with a walk. The double was the 14th of the season for Bride and his seventh during the 10-game hitting streak (16-for-49, .327). Bride scored to make it 5-2 on a Osborne sacifice fly to center.

The Cyclones got a run closer in the eighth on a wild pitch and had the tying runs on first-and-third with one out, but the Lake Monsters turned their third double play of the game to end the inning and keep the lead at 5-3.

Vermont then scored four runs with two outs in the eighth, starting with a Joseph Pena triple and Brito RBI infield single. Brito then scored the second run of the inning on a throwing error on a Bride grounder to third baseman Brian Sharp before Eierman drilled an 0-2 pitch 374-feet over the leftfield fence for his team-leading eighth home run of the season.

Bride scored his third run of the night on the Eierman home run, his second straight game with three runs scored. Brito and Eierman both had three hits, while Pena and Brito each scored two runs for Vermont (35-34), which has won eight of its last 10 after a seven-game losing streak.

The night started with the two teams exchanging home runs as Adolph led off the game with a home run for the second straight day. Vermont’s Aaron Arruda then tied the game in the bottom of the second with his fourth home run of the season and second in as many days. Lake Monsters had taken a 2-1 lead in the third on a Bride RBI groundout.

Adolph was 3-for-5 with one run, two RBI and his seventh home run of the season, while Nick Meyer 2-for-5 with one run for Brooklyn (36-32). Cyclones starter Jose Butto (1-2) allowed three runs on four hits with three walks and four strikeouts over 4 1/3 innigns to take the loss.

The Lake Monsters will look to complete just their second three-game sweep of Brooklyn all-time when the teams wrap up the series Tuesday night at historic Centennial Field starting at 7:05 pm.