Celestino, Pena Help ValleyCats Scratch out 4-2 Win
July 5, 2018 - New York-Penn League (NYPL)
Tri-City ValleyCats News Release
TROY, NY - On a night where offense was at a minimum, the Tri-City ValleyCats used a strong defensive performance to squeak out a 4-2 victory vs. Vermont at Joe Bruno Stadium on Thursday night.The ValleyCats were only able to collect three hits, winning for the first time this year while being out-hit by the opposition.
Gilberto Celestino led the way with two extra base hits, including his second home run of the season.
After Celestino hit his first homer of the year for the ValleyCats on Wednesday, he went deep again in the eighth inning of Thursday's game to give the ValleyCats their final run of the game.
Celestino's home run was actually the ValleyCats' only run-scoring hit of the game, as the first three runs were all scratched out in atypical fashion.
Tri-City opened the scoring in the fourth inning, when Jeremy Pena came home on the wild pitch to give the ValleyCats a 1-0 lead.
One inning later, Michael Wielansky came home on a sacrifice fly from Alex Holderbach to extend the lead to 2-0.
Anthony Churlin then hit a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning to get Vermont on the scoreboard.
Gilberto Celestino scored the ValleyCats' third run of the game on a pick-off play at first base.
When Alex McKenna was caught stealing, Celestino (who was at third) was able to scamper home in making the score 3-1 Tri-City.
Jeremy Eierman and Gilberto Celestino each then traded solo home runs to cement the game's final score at 4-2.
The ValleyCats used a strong pitching and defensive performance to stabilize Vermont, as Tri-City committed no errors and Shawn Dubin picked up the first win of his Minor League career.
The game was started by Bryan Abreu, who surrendered just one hit in his four innings of work, striking out a career-high nine batters.
Abreu came one inning shy of qualifying for the win, before handing the ball off to Dubin in the fifth.
Dubin and Brett Daniels each gave up one run in their two innings of work, before Tim Hardyclosed out the game with a perfect ninth inning.
The win advances the ValleyCats to 10-10 on the year, one game behind Vermont for first place in the Stedler Division.
Tri-City will finish its six-game series with Vermont on Friday night, with first pitch slated for 7 p.m.
Coverage will begin on the Tri-City ValleyCats Radio Network with Steven Cusumano 15 minutes prior to first pitch.
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