Cup of Coffee: Padron-Artiles shines, but Lowell drops title match

9/11 Cup of Coffee: Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow; That I shall say good night till it be 'morrow.

Brooklyn Cyclones (NYM) 4, Lowell Spinners 3

A fantastic Lowell season was sent to come to an end on Monday evening on Coney Island one way or another, as the Spinners and Cyclones engaged in a winner-take-all third game of the New York-Penn League Championship Series. Unfortunately, the franchise's first title since moving to the Mill City in 1996 will have to wait, as Brooklyn came from behind to win its second championship. 

The Spinners turned to rehabbing lefty Jay Groome to start. Boston's top selection in the 2016 draft pitched around a pair of singles in the first, but a leadoff walk in the second proved costly. Brooklyn followed with two hits and a pair of RBI ground outs to take a 2-0 lead. Groome finished with the two runs allowed on four hits in 2 2/3 innings, striking out three against one walk. 

After falling behind 2-0 in the second, Lowell responded immediately with a two-run rally with two outs in the third. Nick Decker worked a two out walk, followed by a Cameron Cannon single to center field. Playoff folk-hero and Paul Bunyan dopplegänger Joe Davis ripped a single to right that plated Decker, with Cannon following on a throwing error. 

Knotted at two through three innings, both squads turned to red-hot hurlers and the game shifted to a mid-inning pitchers duel. The Cyclones brought on Matthew Allan, who Baseball America rated 16th among 2019 draft prospect and was signed to a $2.5 million bonus as a third-round pick, while the Spinners turned to Yusniel Padron-Artiles, who struck out a record-setting 12 consecutive batters in Lowell's game two win in the NYPL semi-finals. The two did not disappoint, as the only baserunner from the fourth inning to the sixth came on a Davis error. 

With Allan departing in the seventh, Marino Campana blasted a tiebreaking solo homer to give Lowell the lead, but it would be short lived. Brooklyn finally reached Padron-Artiles in the bottom of that frame, recording a quick single, triple, and single rally to score two runs. The 21-year-old righty got the next two outs and pitched a scoreless eighth, but Lowell missed its opportunity to rally. The Spinners put two baserunners on in the ninth with a Nick Northcut single and Jaxx Groshans walk, but reliever Andrew Edwards was able to strike out the side and nail the door shut on the 2019 season.

Player of the Day: Despite getting saddled with the loss, the most notable performer of the day and of the postseason for the Spinners was Yusniel Padron-Artiles. He allowed two runs on three hits in five innings, striking out six without issuing a walk. He retired the first seven batters he faced and began his outing with 3 1/3 hitless innings. Overall in the playoffs, Padron-Artiles threw 11 innings, giving up two runs on four hits. He faced 37 batters in the postseason, striking out 20 and walking zero.

Photo Credit: Yusniel Padron-Artiles by Kelly O'Connor

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With the book now closed on the 2019 minor league season, we want to thank all of our readers who followed along with our daily Cup of Coffee and on our forums with the Gameday Thread. We hope you'll stick around with us as we start getting into our offseason content. The SoxProspects.com All-Stars for position players and pitchers have been posted, we'll be presenting the rest of our 2019 award winners the rest of this week, and the Arizona Fall League begins in one week. We sincerely thank you all for your feedback, questions, insights, and readership.

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