Offense was at a premium up in Vermont. The wildcard leading Staten Island Yankees provided enough firepower in an unpredictable 13-9 win over the Lake Monsters to take their second straight on the road Thursday night.

With Lowell falling to Aberdeen 6-5, it gave Mike Gillespie’s club a three game lead for the wildcard. They also are now four and a half up on the Monsters.

A night removed from putting up 13 runs in a 13-2 rout in the series opener, the Bombers used the same magic number to hold off their pesky opponents.

Trailing by two runs, Staten Island exploded for a nine run fifth by batting around. Chris Raber started it off with a walk and would come around to score the team’s first run on a Justin Snyder sacrifice fly. With one out, Taylor Holiday then reached on an E2 from Vermont’s Craig Stinson to put a couple of runners on knocking out losing starter Cole Kimball (2-5).

But it backfired on the Monsters as the Bombers pounced on reliever Edulin Abreu, who gave up six runs (four ER) on four hits while walking two as he failed to retire a batter.

Staten Island second baseman Damon Sublett greeted him rudely with an RBI single to right which tied the game. Third baseman Braedyn Pruitt followed with a runscoring hit of his own to put the Bombers ahead.

After a David Williams single loaded the bases, left fielder Austin Krum followed with an RBI walk to plate another run. The ninth batter in the inning catcher Jose Gil singled in one more which brought Raber back up. The first baseman walked to bring home the Bombers’ seventh run forcing Vermont to finally make a change and bring in Caleub Staudt.

The reliever hurt his own cause by making a throwing error which allowed Krum and Gil to cross the plate for the final runs of the huge frame which gave Staten Island a 9-2 lead.

To Vermont’s credit, they didn’t go away immediately getting two back in the home fifth off Bomber starter Jason Stephens thanks to a two-run single from DH Aaron Seuss.

Sublett responded with his seventh home run of the season- a solo shot to right off Staudt in the sixth to restore a six-run lead.

The Monsters cameback with a run on a Brandon Whiting RBI single off Staten Island reliever Craig Heyer to slice it to 10-5.

A half inning after D.J. Hollingsworth knocked in Staten Island’s 11th run of the night, the Monsters made things interesting by scoring four times in the seventh off Heyer and reliever Nick Chigges.

Seuss started it with a leadoff solo shot to left off Heyer which cut it to five. After Heyer put the next two on via a walk and base hit, he was an out away from getting out of it when he fanned Stephen Englund and flied out Sean Rooney.

However, he plunked Anthony Benner to load the bases forcing Gillespie to go to the pen. But Chigges gave up a two-run single to pinch hitter Garrett Bass. Snyder’s second miscue of the night allowed Bass to get into scoring position and then come home a batter late when Daniel Lyons singled him in which suddenly cut the Bombers’ lead to 11-9.

Jacinto Gonell took over for Chigges and got the final out of the frame by flying out Bill Rhinehart. The S.I. reliever also would get the side in order in the eighth fanning two to retire all four Vermont batters he faced.

An inning after stranding two with one out, Staten Island got a little insurance in the ninth thanks to a Hollingsworth sac fly and an error by left fielder Jean Alvarez which allowed Snyder to score restoring a four-run cushion.

In a non-save situation, closer Jonathan Ortiz got the Monsters in order K-ing two and getting Benner to fly out to finally conclude a long night which included a 63-minute rain delay.

Notes: After the delay, the game took three hours and 48-minutes to complete ending near midnight. … Staying hot since the break, Sublett finished with three hits, two runs scored, a dinger plus two RBI’s to raise his average to .307. … Hollingsworth had a multi-hit night driving in three and lifting his average to .368. … Ironically, almost every batter in the lineup had a hit except their top hitter Snyder, who took the collar in three chances despite a pair of walks, a sac fly and run scored. Raber was also 0-for-3 but had two walks and two runs. Showing remarkable patience, the Bombers walked 12 times. … Despite allowing five runs (4 ER) on nine hits in 5.1 innings, Stephens improved to 4-0. … Staten Island aims for the sweep tonight before heading to Lowell for a three-game series.