Long Balls Power ValleyCats to Win

August 26, 2018 - New York-Penn League (NYPL)
Tri-City ValleyCats News Release

The Tri-City ValleyCats used two clutch home runs to power past the Aberdeen Ironbirds for a 4-2 win on Sunday night at Joe Bruno Stadium.

Enmanuel Valdez tied the game with his eighth home run in the sixth inning, while Luis Encarnacion put the 'Cats on top for good with a two-run blast in the seventh.

Aberdeen scored its only two runs on Milton Ramos' first homer of the season in the second inning, before the ValleyCats responded with four unanswered runs.

Encarnacion joined Andy Pineda as the two ValleyCats to collect two hits on the night, while Carlos Machado extended his team-best hit streak to eight games.

Aside from the home runs, the ValleyCats also used brilliant pitching to lock down the win.

Shawn Dubin pitched the first three innings for Tri-City, while Mark Moclair pitched the middle third of the game and Brett Daniels shut the Ironbirds out in the final three innings to earn his second win of the season.

Sunday night's game was the ValleyCats' shortest nine-inning game of the season at two hours and 21 minutes and it was also played in front of a season-high crowd of 5,828.

Now with a record of 38-29, the ValleyCats hold a five-game lead in the Stedler division, shrinking their magic number to four with eight games left to be played in the regular season.

The ValleyCats will now look to take their three-game series from the Aberdeen Ironbirds on Monday 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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New York-Penn League Stories from August 26, 2018

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