Baseball: Yankees Stomp Lake Monsters 10-0

Courtesy Vermont Lake Monsters

BURLINGTON — Four Staten Island pitchers combined on a two-hit shutout, while Ricardo Ferriera hit a three-run homer and Eric Wagaman a two-run shot as the Yankees blanked the Vermont Lake Monsters 10-0 in New York-Penn League action Wednesday night at historic Centennial Field.

Vermont’s only hits came on a Jonah Bride one-out bloop single to right in the first inning and an Alfonso Rivas one-out line drive single to center in the ninth. The two hits combined with just five Lake Monsters base hits on Monday (two) and Tuesday (three) leave Vermont just 7-for-86 (.081) at the plate over last three games.

Yankee David Metzgar walked to leadoff both the first and third innings, then came around to score on RBI singles from Brandon Lockridge and Junior Soto off of Vermont starter Jose Mora for an early 2-0 Staten Island lead.

The Yankees added four more runs in the sixth on a Danienger Perez RBI single and the three-run homer from Ferriera, the first three-run homer allowed by Vermont pitching this season. A Brandon Lockridge RBI double and Wagaman’s two-run homer in the seventh increased the Yankees lead to 9-0.

Mora (1-2) struggled with his control eary, issuing three walks in the first and two more in the third before the pair of RBI singles. He settled down a bit to complete five innings, allowing two runs (raising his ERA from 0.99, second in NYPL to 1.39) on three hits with five walks and five strikeouts.

Yankees starter Rodney Hutchison and reliever Nolan Martinez (3-0) both struckout four Lake Monsters in three innings of work, while Garrett Mundell one hitless inning and Chase Hodson two strikeouts over the final two innings to seal third shutout win of the season for Staten Island (18-14).

The shutout was ust the second thrown against the Lake Monsters this season (11-0 loss at Hudson Valley on June 23rd) and the third loss by 10 or more runs (11-1 at Tri-City June 15th). With the defeat, the Lake Monsters had a two-game winning streak against the Yankees snapped (Vermont has never won three straight vs. Staten Island).

The Lake Monsters and Yankees will wrap up the three-game series and Vermont (16-16) three-game homestand on Thursday with a special 11:05 am “Camp Day” start time.