CENTRAL ISLIP, NY— From the season’s first month, the Ducks treated the Road Warriors like their personal elixir. Regardless of any previous pitching deficiencies, offensive struggles or bullpen meltdown, a series against the nomadic club has served as a panacea for any negatives.

Against the six other Atlantic League teams, the Ducks are just 51-47. After last night’s 9-2 victory, they are 16-1 against the nomadic franchise. That dominant run propelled them to the league’s best overall mark, putting them five games up on Newark in the North Division.

Despite beating up on a last-place team to pad the record, manager Dave LaPoint said he wasn’t concerned about the disparity against the other opponents. He supported his case by saying the rest of the competition faces the Road Warriors the same number of times.

“They’ve beaten a lot of teams in the league,” LaPoint said. “They beat up on Bridgeport. We can’t beat Bridgeport. We’ve won series against other teams too. I don’t think it matters one way or the other.”

Jose Espinal recorded his best outing since coming to Long Island late last month, allowing just two runs on six hits in six innings. The right-hander helped drop the Ducks’ magic number to clinch the division down to six, allowing LaPoint to start thinking about his postseason rotation with 10 games remaining in the regular season.

“He’s gotten a little sharper with his breaking ball each time out,” LaPoint said. “He got to 83 pitches. If I sent him [back] out, he would have been over 100. It was a good time—two earned runs in six innings and he felt good about himself. Plus I knew our bullpen needed some work.”

The Road Warriors raced out to a 2-0 lead, breaking open the scoring on Ian Bladergroen’s third-inning RBI single and a sacrifice fly by Gabe Suarez in the fourth. That would be all Espinal would surrender, retiring the side in order in the fifth. The Road Warriors put two men on base in the sixth thanks to a hit and two-out error, but Espinal induced a Suarez line-out to end the threat.

“The last couple of starts, I’ve been adjusting to the league,” Espinal said. “I’m new out here, so it was a better performance than before. They were free swingers, so what was working for me tonight was my sinkerball and mixing in curveballs and changeups.”

Espinal walked off the Citibank Park mound to cheers from the 6,065 in attendance after his last out. The former White Sox’s farmhand improved to 2-1, supported by a three-RBI effort from Pete Rose Jr. His .342 average was third-best in the league entering the contest, and he improved on that figure by finishing 3-5.

“It’s all about wins now. We’re in the stretch run and if I have to go 0-4 for us to win, I’m going to do that,” Rose said. “I got lucky tonight and got a few hits.”

Jared Price added a solo home run in the seventh when the score was 3-2, tacking on an insurance run that seemed important at the time. The Ducks put up a four-run eighth to erase a save opportunity for closer Danny Graves, who pitched a scoreless ninth to extend his club’s winning streak to three.

Notes: Eric Colon, who has served as the bullpen catcher the past six seasons, struck out looking in his first ever professional plate appearance. Colon served as a corrections officer for 20 years at Rikers Island. LaPoint activated him as the third catcher and the 25th man on the roster. The 37-year-old went down on three pitches…Edgardo Alfonzo sat out for the second straight game in the series. LaPoint said he will continue to sit out until next week…Ray Navarrete and Reggie Taylor were a combined 5-9 with five hits and five runs scored batting 1-2 in the order. Navarrete scored three runs.

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