VINTAGE!
Justin Putnal dominates Royals with vintage outing

September 14, 2026 - 10 pitches into Sunday's game against the retuning champion Houston Royals, the Houston Cyclones had themselves a 3-0 lead. 2 batters later, it was 4-0. After Justin Putnal started his afternoon by striking out the side, the Cyclones got back to work in the top half of the 2nd inning. The first 2 batters of the inning walked and then Adam Ewing singled on an infield hit to 2nd base loading the bases for Eddie Baray. Eddie drives his 2nd consecutive double to deep right-center field plating 2 runners.  Tom West singled for the 2nd time in 2 innings also plating 2 runners and the Cyclones were now up 8-0. On a 1-1 pitch, newcomer Freddy Villalobos hit a deep fly ball to left-center field that cleared the fence by a good 20 feet for his 2nd HR of the season to put the Cyclones up 10-0. In the bottom half of the 2nd inning, Putnal allowed 1 run to score without giving up a hit.

The Cyclones would go on to score 3 more runs the rest of the way while Justin and the Cyclones allowed only 1 more run to defeat the Royals 13-2. Putnal struck out 8 Royals on the afternoon, but struggled with his command from time to time on the afternoon, but was able to work out of most trouble.