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Troy, NY -- August 16th -- It was the same story, different night for the Cyclones on Thursday night. Brooklyn failed to connect on a clutch hit with runners in scoring position, while Tri-City’s batters came through in those situations as the ValleyCats defeated the Cyclones 4-2.

With three Cyclones starting pitchers making an appearance in the New York-Penn League All-Star Game earlier this week, Brooklyn had to rely on arms from the bullpen to get them through the game on Thursday night Matt Bowman made his first start of the season, after making his first eight appearances of the year out the bullpen. The former Princeton Tiger sparkled in his first professional start, tossing 4.0 scoreless frames allowing just one hit and a walk while striking out two. But Tri-City’s starter, Lance Day, matched Bowman zero for zero until the top of the fifth when Brooklyn opened the scoring.

Jeff Glenn started the Cyclones rally with a leadoff double andmoved to third on a groundout from Juan Gamboa. Dimas Ponce was the next batter up and he lined a single through the left side of the infield to score Glenn and give Brooklyn a 1-0 advantage.

Matt Koch came in to relieve Bowman and quickly found himself in a jam. M.P. Cokinos and Jean Batista connected on back-to-back hits that put runners on second and third with one out. A sacrifice fly from Dan Gubransen scored the first run, but Emilio King connected on a two-run home run to put Tri-City ahead 3-1 after five.

Brooklyn continued the back-and-forth scoring in the top of the sixth after a fielding error and a walk put a pair of runners aboard for Kevin Plawecki. The Cyclones slugger laced a single to centerfield, scoring Phillip Evans and slicing the Brooklyn deficit in half at 3-2.

In the seventh the ValleyCats lead would once again swell to two runs, but Logan Taylor was able to limit the damage after entering the game with the bases loaded and nobody out. Taylor induced a sacrifice fly and a double play to escape further damage, but Tri-City was in front 4-2 heading into the eighth.

In the eighth it looked like the Cyclones may slice into Tri-City’s lead, putting runners on the corners with one out after Jayce Boyd doubled and Plawecki singled, but Stefan Sabol and Jeff Glenn struck out to end the threat. Brooklyn went down 1-2-3 in the ninth as Blake Ford collected his 14th save of the season for the ValleyCats.

Brooklyn will send RHP Gabriel Ynoa to the mound tomorrow hoping to salvage the finale of the three-game series before heading to Vermont to open a three-game series with the Lake Monsters.