Brooklyn Cyclones Game Notes - Saturday, May 30 - vs. Wilmington (2:00 PM ET)
SAL Brooklyn Cyclones

Brooklyn Cyclones Game Notes - Saturday, May 30 - vs. Wilmington (2:00 PM ET)

Published on May 30, 2026 under South Atlantic League (SAL)
Brooklyn Cyclones News Release


The Brooklyn Cyclones will play as the Coney Island Franks (15-33, 15-33) and continue a two-week homestand and six-game series against the Wilmington Blue Rocks (26-22, 26-22) - the High-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals - on Saturday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. ET from Maimonides Park on Coney Island in Brooklyn, N.Y.

RHP Irving Cota (1-1, 0.83) is expected to make the start for the Cyclones. The Blue Rocks are scheduled to counter with RHP Yoel Tejeda Jr. (1-2, 3.80).

Live coverage on the Cyclones Radio Network, Bally Sports Live, and MiLB.tv will begin at 1:45 p.m. ET.

LAST TIME OUT: Brooklyn surged back into the win column with a commanding 10-5 victory on Friday night...The 'Clones utilized their largest scoring inning of the year to help propel them to the win...Brooklyn plated six runs in the 7th inning - on only one base hit - to take an 8-5 lead...In the frame, Brooklyn drew five walks, two batters were hit, and the Blue Rocks made an error in the field...The 'Clones once trailed in the game, 5-0, before rattling off the 10 unanswered runs...LF J.T. Benson finished the day 2-for-3 with 2 RBI, a walk, and a run scored...Benson had the lone hit in the 7th, a two-run single to put Brooklyn in front, 8-5...RF Sam Biller tied a franchise record with four walks in the victory, while scoring a pair of runs...As a team, Brooklyn drew 10 free passes in the win, tying the season high set on May 14 at Rome.

25th ANNIVERSARY: The Cyclones celebrate their 25th anniversary season in 2026...Since the inaugural 2001 campaign, Brooklyn has captured 3 league titles...The Cyclones shared the New York-Penn League crown with the Williamsport Crosscutters in their first season before taking home the final NYPL title in 2019...Brooklyn captured its first full-season championship in 2025, going 4-0 in the postseason against Greensboro and Hub City...Entering play on Saturday, the Cyclones hold a record of 1,133-988 (.534) in the regular season.

BATS HEATING UP: The Cyclones have been in the midst of their best offensive stretch of the season...Since last Friday against Hudson Valley, Brooklyn has scored 41 runs in six games, the 3rd most in the South Atlantic League during that span...The team also holds a .407 on-base percentage over the last six games, best in the SAL...The 'Clones plated 10 runs for the second time in eight days in Friday night's win over Wilmington...The 10 runs scored tied the most the 'Clones have had in a single game all year, matching last Friday's 10-run performance against Hudson Valley...It also marks the most they've scored in any game since they scored 13 in Game 1 of the SAL Championship Series against Hub City on September 14 of last year...Brooklyn utilized a 6-run 7th inning, despite only a single hit the frame, marking their most runs in a single frame so far this year...Since last Thursday in Rome, Brooklyn has scored at least five runs eight different times, including in all four games this week...They're averaging 4.9 runs per game during that span, but have compiled just a 7-7 record.

HE'S GOT THE BILL: OF Sam Biller tied a franchise record with four walks drawn in Friday's win over Wilmington and has continued to be a bright spot since joining Brooklyn...The four free passes are the most a single Cyclone has had in a game since his current Brooklyn teammate, INF Colin Houck, drew four in Game 1 of the SAL Championship Series last September against Hub City...Since May 7, the 23-year-old is slashing .293/.423/.390/.813 with four doubles, six runs scored, five RBI, and three stolen bases...The UConn product tore up the Florida State League to start the year...In 11 games with Single-A St. Lucie, Biller slashed .359/.457/.436/.892.

ROSTER MOVES: The Cyclones reinstated RHP Irving Cota off the injured list ahead of his start on Friday...Cota had been excellent before hitting the shelf, tossing 21.2 frames to the tune of a 0.83 ERA...Additionally, Brooklyn added INF Grae Kessinger to their roster on Friday on a minor-league rehab assignment...The infielder played in 48 big league games with the Astros in 2023 & 2024...Brooklyn also placed RHP Brady Miller on the 7-day IL ahead of Wednesday's contest...This comes after a flurry of moves on Tuesday that saw RHP Channing Austin promoted to Double-A Binghamton after an outstanding start to the year with Brooklyn...Beyond that, LHP Daviel Hurtado excelled in his South Atlantic League debut on Tuesday after just being transferred from Single-A St. Lucie...RHP Jonathan Jimenez was sent to Single-A St. Lucie...Additionally, RHP Parker Carlson and RHP Danis Correa are both back with the Cyclones from Triple-A Syracuse...Carlson pitched in one contest for Syracuse last week, tossing two hitless innings, while Correa pitched in two contests, logging two scoreless frames both times.

TIME TO MAKE THE DONUTS: The Cyclones collected their second straight shutout and fifth of the season in Tuesday's victory over Wilmington...Five different Brooklyn arms combined to hold the Blue Rocks scoreless on only four hits across the contest...Brooklyn has thrown three shutouts alone since last Wednesday, in addition to blanking Rome in Georgia, 7-0, on May 14, while also shutting out Frederick, 2-0, at Maimonides Park on May 2...RHP Channing Austin was Brooklyn's starter in three of their five shutouts to this point...The 7-0 victory on May 14 was the Cyclones' most lopsided shutout since a 13-0 win vs. Wilmington on July 9, 2025...RHP Brendan Girton (4.1 IP, 2 H, 4 K), LHP Ryan Ammons (1.2, 0, 3), RHP Brett Banks (2.0, 0, 4), and RHP Ben Simon (1.0, 1, 3) united to strike out 14 in a combined three-hitter.

PITCHING IN: Despite the unit being short-handed at times over the past few weeks, Brooklyn's pitching staff has been sharp as of late...The Cyclones saw their 17.0 scoreless inning streak come to an end in the 1st inning on Wednesday night...In May, the Cyclones boast the 2nd best ERA in the South Atlantic League at 3.92 (91 ER in 209.0 IP)...Since May 14, Brooklyn has permitted just 44 ER across 14 games, good for a 3.36 ERA during that span and 1st in the South Atlantic League...A huge reason behind that success has been the bullpen...Since that date, Cyclone relievers have posted a minuscule 1.92 ERA in 14 games, the best mark among full-season minor league affiliates....The 'pen holds a 4-3 record, with 75 strikeouts to 35 walks across 61.0 innings during that span.

SITTING ON THE DOCK OF J-BAY: OF John Bay clobbered his sixth home run of the season in Tuesday's win, and has continued to thrive on Coney Island to start the year...In 21 games at Maimonides Park this year, the 25-year-old is hitting .311/.414/.635/1.049 with 20 runs scored, 14 extra-base hits, four home runs, 17 runs batted in, and seven stolen bases...In 23 road contests, Bay is slashing just .160/.299/.259/.558...Bay has hit two of his six home runs this season against Hudson Valley, and three of his seven career High-A long balls have come against the Renegades.

AUSTIN POWERS: RHP Channing Austin was promoted to Double-A Binghamton on Tuesday...Austin was brilliant to begin the year with Brooklyn...Austin's final appearance with the Cyclones before his promotion was more of the same...On Wednesday against Hudson Valley, Austin chucked 6.2 scoreless innings, allowing just one hit, walking only one, and striking out eight...The right-hander struck out 10 over 4.1 innings on May 8 at Bowling Green, setting a new career-high...Austin's performance marked the first time a Brooklyn pitcher struck out 10 or more hitters in a game since RHP Jack Wenninger accomplished the feat on September 6, 2024, vs. Wilmington...Over his final six starts in High-A, Austin struck out 41 batters (33.1 K%) to just 13 walks (10.5 BB%) with a 0.58 ERA (2 ER in 31.0 IP)...As the time of his promotion, the University of Southern California alum was second in the South Atlantic League in ERA (1.17), batting average against (.150) and opposing OPS (.496), third in strikeouts (48), and fifth in WHIP (1.10)...Austin is the only Brooklyn starter this year to record an out in both the 6th and 7th innings...Since Game 1 of April 26's doubleheader at Hudson Valley, Brooklyn is a perfect 5-0 in games started by Austin...They are 5-18 since that date in games started by other pitchers.

HALL OF FAME: RHP Noah Hall continued to climb the Cyclones' all-time pitching leaderboard on Thursday against Wilmington...The 25-year-old has 168 Ks in his Brooklyn career, having passed RHP Garrison Bryant (135) and LHP Felipe De La Cruz (133) for second and third, respectively, on the all-time list on April 10 at Jersey Shore...The Charlotte, N.C. native trails only RHP Jaison Vilera (173) on Brooklyn's career strikeout list...Hall is also second on the all-time starts list by Brooklyn pitchers with 35 and innings pitched with 167.1, having passed Bryant (143.1) earlier this season...In 2025, Hall ranked second in the South Atlantic League in ERA (2.72) and batting average against (.200)...He also finished fifth in strikeouts (115), tied for fifth in double plays induced (9), sixth in innings (112.2), ninth in WHIP (1.27), and tied for 10th in starts (21)...Hall became the first player in franchise history to start multiple Opening Days in 2025 and started his third-straight Opening Day in 2026.

HOME, SWEET HOME: The Cyclones continue their two-week home stand this week against Wilmington after taking three of six last week from Hudson Valley...All this comes after they wrapped their longest road trip of the season...Brooklyn spent two weeks away from Brooklyn in Bowling Green and Rome, respectively...The 'Clones went 1-5 in Kentucky, while finishing their week in Georgia at 2-4, settling for a 3-9 road trip through the 12 games... The Cyclones will endure just one more two-week road trip in 2026...Brooklyn will play six games in Asheville from August 18-23 before heading back north to conclude the road schedule at Hudson Valley from August 25-30...This past Tuesday marked Brooklyn's first home contest since May 3 vs. Frederick...The Cyclones won't play another road game the rest of the month - they'll take on Jersey Shore for the first of six from Lakewood, N.J., on June 2nd.

SOUTHERN SWING: Brooklyn's offense thrived on the long-ball during their two-week road trip...During the 12 games, the Cyclones offense accumulated 15 home runs, including at least one in 8 different games...C Ronald Hernandez (3), INF Trace Willhoite (3), OF John Bay (2), INF Colin Houck (2), and C Vincent Perozo (2) all hit multiple home runs during the swing...Brooklyn hit 15 of their 33 home runs (45.45%) this season during the road trip.

GRAB SOME PINE: Brooklyn pitchers struck out 18 hitters in May 8's 7-2 win at Bowling Green, marking the third time this year the staff has accomplished the feat and the second time doing so in a 9-inning game...RHP Channing Austin (10), LHP Gregori Louis (2), RHP Bryce Jenkins (1), and RHP Cristofer Gomez (5) were dominant, striking out 18 while Austin allowed just two early runs...The last time Brooklyn arms whiffed 18 over 9.0 innings was in a 3-2 loss to Greensboro on April 17...The franchise record for punchouts is 22, set in a 20-inning contest on June 17, 2016, vs. Staten Island.

BALL MAGNETS: The Cyclones have worn their fair share of pitches to start the 2026 season...Entering play on Saturday, Brooklyn has been hit by 45 pitches this season, which is tied for 2nd in the South Atlantic League, and tied for 8th in Minor League Baseball...OF John Bay (10) is tied for fourth in the league and tied for 10th in MiLB in hit-by-pitches, while C Daiverson Gutiérrez (9) is tied for 6th in the SAL in HBP and tied for 15th in MiLB.

NEW SHERIFF IN TOWN: Eduardo Núñez grabs the reins as Brooklyn's manager for 2026, serving as the 16th skipper in franchise history...Núñez takes over after serving as Brooklyn's hitting coach in 2024 and bench coach for the 2025 championship-winning squad...The 40-year-old replaces Gilbert Gómez, who joined the Mets coaching staff as New York's first base and outfield coach for 2026...Núñez joined the Mets organization before the 2021 campaign, and previously held positions in the organization with St. Lucie and in both the Florida Complex League and Dominican Summer League...He also worked on Team Puerto Rico's staff in the 2023 and 2026 World Baseball Classic.

BROOKLYN TO THE BIGS: After 14 former Cyclones made their Major League debuts in 2025, six alumni have already accomplished the feat early in 2026...OF Nick Morabito made his Major League debut for the Mets on Tuesday, while LHP Zach Thornton started Wednesday's contest for the Mets...They joined OF Carson Benge, OF A.J. Ewing, RHP Cameron Foster, and RHP Anthony Nunez, who made their debuts earlier this season...Foster and Nunez each debuted with the Baltimore Orioles in April...Last year's 14 debuts set a new single-season franchise record.

AMAZIN' STARTS HERE: According to MLB Pipeline, the Cyclones hold two of the Mets' Top 30 prospects...Those are INF Mitch Voit (6) and C Daiverson Gutiérrez (24)...Both are also considered Top 30 prospects according to Baseball America and SNY...BA has Voit at 8 and Gutiérrez at 24, while SNY lists Voit at 10 and Gutiérrez at 27...Baseball America also ranked INF Colin Houck as the organization's No. 35 farmhand entering 2026.

Check out the Brooklyn Cyclones Statistics

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South Atlantic League Stories from May 30, 2026


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