Maxwell Romero Jr. had a trick up his sleeve on firework Friday, walking off the Brooklyn Cyclones by a score of 3-2 with an RBI single on July 12. 

Luke Young graced the mound for the Wilmington Blue Rocks in need of a good performance, after allowing eight runs in his last start on Independence Day and picking up a loss in each of his starts over the last month. He pitched well, only allowing two to cross the plate and getting himself off the hook for the no-decision.

“Better today,” Manager Mario Lisson said. “He has to attack the strike zone with his stuff, with the right mix. Making sure he stays in the bottom of the zone, he did that today, and he was able to get to the five innings.”

In the third inning, T.J. White continued his hitting masterclass of late. Batting lefty, he crushed a pitch on the outside corner for a solo homer to right-center field. 

“I like them out over the plate like that,” White said. “It was easy for me to get extended.  Both [sides of the plate] are working for me honestly. It’s kind of helping my confidence each and every day just hammering from both sides.”

White is batting .161 against right-handers and .275 against lefties on the year. The numbers batting left-handed are down because of a slow start to the season. Those numbers will jump quickly if he can continue this stretch of stellar play he’s on.

“He’s had a couple of adjustments,” Lisson said. “Mechanically, now he’s in a better spot to be more consistent. The approach has been good staying up the middle.  He has the power to go to all fields, so it was a good day for him.”

Wander Arias pitched the sixth and seventh innings and continued to dominate as he had been for most of July. He struck out the side in the sixth and got through the two frames without allowing a baserunner. 

“He attacks the zone, and he has good stuff number one, and he attacks with the right approach,” Lisson said. “As long as he continues to do that, he’s got a good chance to succeed.”

With the game tied heading into the ninth, you could feel the magic in the air. Jared McKenzie drew a one-out walk and moved over to second on a groundout to bring Maxwell Romero Jr. to the plate.   

“Yeah, I was just trying to get a good hit there,” Romero said. “Just put the barrel on it, don’t want to hit it too far. I didn’t care where it went as long as it landed.”

Romero Jr. had to fight in his two-out plate appearance. The seven-pitch at-bat ended when he lasered a single into the right-center field gap, scoring McKenzie and saving the day for the Blue Rocks

“I’m really happy about the win right there,” Romero said. “That was huge. Being able to take three wins right now was awesome. Just get the fourth one tomorrow and go from there. Just keep winning.” 

Matt Cronin gets the win while only recording one out, and Wilmington takes a 3-1 series lead over Brooklyn heading into the weekend.

“Definitely good for our spirit,” White said. “I know we’ll bring that energy coming back tomorrow and hopefully Sunday too.”

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