TROY — After a fruitless struggle in Vermont, the ValleyCats looked to get their first win of the season in front of the home crowd. Despite offensive struggles they achieved their goal with a 2-1 win against the Staten Island Yankees.
“The fans were awesome. Everyone was behind us,” said rookie Korey Lee, who made his professional debut on Monday.
Right-hander Lupe Chavez took the bump for the ‘Cats in the home opener. Though he didn’t present anything flashy to the Yankees he was able to effectively and efficiently work Tri-City through five innings of shutout ball. His night ended with two hits, three walks and five strikeouts.
“I felt really good with no pressure. I was doing whatever I could to help the team win,” Chavez said.
The ValleyCats bullpen didn’t have any trouble holding the tie until the seventh inning where in his second inning of the night, Jervic Chavez walked the first two batters. A sacrifice bunt moved the runners over into scoring position but Staten Island’s first attempt to drive in a run was unsuccessful. With two outs and Ezequiel Duran at the plate, Jervic Chavez through a pitch into the dirt that Lee couldn’t corral. The runner on third came in to score and it didn’t look like the ValleyCats could get the bats going to make up the deficit.
The score remained until the bottom of the ninth inning. In the box for his fourth at bat of the game (1-3 previously), Yeuris Ramirez belted a ball deep to left field for a solo home run. The home run was given up by Staten Island’s Josh Maciejewski who came in for the seventh inning after Brian Keller’s start ended (6 IP 3 H 4 K).
In the tenth, both teams took advantage of the runner on second rule but to varying amounts of success. The Yankees got the runner to third where they tried to push him in on a hard grounder to the third baseman, Joe Perez who quickly turned it to the catcher Lee. Although the through was slightly off line, Lee was able to play the ball and reach back to tag the runner just in time. Then in the bottom of the inning the Cats too found themselves with their runner moved to third. This time a wild pitch by Maciejewski gave runner Deury Carrasco plenty of room to come in and score.
“I saw the other side didn’t take their chance when they could, and I wanted to take my chance… Being the home team, I want to win the game right away,” said manager Ozney Guillen.
With the win the ValleyCats will go on the road with a little extra pep in their step. They start a three game series in Aberdeen Tuesday night. Their first round draft pick Lee will continue to settle in to professional baseball after going 0-4 in his first game.
Guillen said, “(Lee) saved the game with that play at home plate…I believe he had five blocks on balls in the dirt, little stuff like that that people don’t see. That to me, is exceptional.”
