JetHawks Storm on Lake Elsinore pen

Lake Elsinore starter Eric Cyr pitched 6 dominant innings, allowing one run and striking out 12. But Storm manager Craig Colbert pulled Cyr when he hit the 100-pitch count in the seventh, and the JetHawks scored four runs in the eighth off reliever Mike Bumstead, securing a 5-1 victory.

Billy Martin drove in two runs, snapping a 1-1 tie, when he lined a triple off the wall in right-center field, his first triple of the season. J.D. Closser singled Martin home, and Ryan Jones doubled Closser home.

Brandon Medders (1-1) pitched two scoreless innings to earn his first professional victory. Elsinore's Bumstead (1-1) took the loss.

The late JetHawks rally overshadowed dominant starts by both Cyr and Lancaster's Duaner Sanchez.

Cyr, suspended by the Padres the first two months of the season for off-the-field legal troubles, has turned into one of Elsinore's most dominant starters. After Dennis Tankersley and Ben Howard earned promotions to Class AA Mobile, Cyr has taken the roll of the staff's ace.

Saturday night, he showed why. The left-hander mixed a live fastball in the mid 90s with deceptive off-speed pitches. He located all of his pitches well. That combination will get a pitcher far.

Cyr pitched 6 innings and allowed one run, on a solo home run by Ryan Jones. He struck out 12 batters, a season high, and walked one. He allowed five hits.

His only problem is that he's not a ground-ball pitcher. He utilizes the entire strike zone, including the high strike. Just one of his 19 outs was a ground out. He left one hittable pitch up, in the second inning, and Jones turned on it, giving the JetHawks a 1-0 lead.

But Sanchez matched Cyr. After two sub-par performances in Lancaster, the Dominican right-hander showed why the Diamondbacks think enough of him to put him on the big league's club 40-man roster.

Sanchez used a hard fastball to stay ahead of the Storm's hitters. He allowed one run on five hits in six innings, struck out six and walked none.

The Storm scored their sole run in the third inning. Bobby Scales singled and stole second, and Luis Lorenzaga singled Scales home.

The JetHawks looked like they'd take the lead in the bottom of the third when, with Matt Kata on first base, Robbie Hammock drove a liner down the right-field line.

Kata, running on contact, would have easily scored on Hammock's drive if it stayed in the field. But the ball one-hopped the fence for a ground rule double, forcing Kata to stop at third.

Martin struck out, stranding the runners, in what seemed a somewhat minor plot twist. But when Elsinore's Eric Cyr and Lancaster's Duaner Sanchez both turned in stellar performances, that twist became crucial.

Uploaded July 29, 2001