Wings Spoil Yanks Home Opener At Frontier
By: Thad Brown
Updated: April 16, 2012
Wings lefty Scott Diamond brought a scoreless innings streak of 12 1/3 innings into the contest, and added to the streak with a 20-pitch first inning. In the top of the second inning against Yankees pitching prospect Dellin Betances, Joe Benson hit a one-out double that appeared to be inches away from clearing the left field bullpen railing. Rizzotti singled to right, and the Wings took an early 1-0 lead.
The Yankees went to work in the bottom half of the second inning, notching a pair of singles off Diamond. A fly out by Francisco Cervelli moved Dewayne Wise to third base, but Ramiro Pena grounded into an inning-ending double play.
In the bottom of the third Kevin Russo hit a line drive past Darin Mastroianni for a lead-off triple. Colin Curtis brought Russo in on an RBI single, tying the score at one.
The Wings had an opportunity to take the lead in the top half of the fourth when Brian Dozier led off with a single, but were unable capitalize with runners in scoring position, leaving two stranded.
The Yankees took the lead in the bottom of the fourth when Pena hit a two-run home run bringing in Cervelli, making the score 3-1.
The Wings regained the league in the top of the fifth, scoring four runs making the score 5-3. Ray Chang led the inning off with a walk, followed by a single by Ben Revere. Tsuyoshi Nishioka scored Chang on an RBI single. Matt Carson then hit an RBI single scoring Revere, and Carson and Nishioka both scored on an RBI single by Rizzotti.
Betances (0-2) was taken out after walking Benson in the fifth. He put in 4 2/3 innings of work with seven hits, five runs, all earned, four walks, and four strikeouts. Diamond (3-0) went six innings, and has worked at least six innings in each of his first three starts. Diamond allowed nine hits, three earned runs and a walk while fanning five.
Casey Fien worked a six-pitch scoreless seventh inning in relief of Diamond, then used just seven pitches to record three outs in the eighth. In the ninth, Fien allowed a walk, then got a ground out and a strikeout. Cervelli hit a sinking line drive to center and Revere made a diving attempt at a catch, only to have the ball glance off his glove for a double. But Fien struck out Pena to end the game, and Fien recorded his second save of the season.
