IL1 Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders

Cortes, Bats Lift RailRiders

Published on June 28, 2018 under International League (IL1)
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders News Release


Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders pitcher Nestor Cortes
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders pitcher Nestor Cortes
(Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, Credit: Todd Hiller)

ALLENTOWN, PA (June 27, 2018) - The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders got a dazzling performance from starting pitcher Nestor Cortes, and the offense scored a flurry of early runs to jump out to a lead off Tom Eshelman in a 6-3 win over the Lehigh Valley IronPigs.

Cortes had gone seven innings three times in his career entering Thursday night, but never in a game above High-A Tampa, and not since the 2016 season. He ran into trouble only once in the fourth inning. With a 4-0 lead for the RailRiders and one out and the bases empty, Mitch Walding reached on an error. The next man up was Joey Meneses who launched an opposite-field homer to cut the deficit in half, 4-2.

That would be it off Cortes, who scattered only two more hits throughout the outing. Over his last five starts, Cortes has gone 26.1 innings, allowing 17 hits (17-for-92, .185 BAA), 3 ER (1.03 ERA), lowering his season ERA with the RailRiders from 6.75 to 3.83.

The RailRiders began the scoring with Billy McKinney's 11th home run of the season leading off the 2nd inning, and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre never looked back. His homer was his 11th since May 29- over his last 106 at-bats (9.6 AB/HR)- which is tied for the most in Minor League Baseball since that date.

McKinney (2-for-4) was one of four RailRiders with multi-hit nights, including Rey Navarro (3-for-4), Zack Zehner (2-for-4) and Clint Frazier (2-for-5) who had an RBI double as part of a three-run 2nd inning to open up that early 4-0 lead.

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre piles on the bus and heads home to Moosic following a six-game, seven-day roadtrip. Friday marks the start of a three-game series between SWB and the Pawtucket Red Sox, with the RailRiders sending RHP Chance Adams (2-3, 5.21) to the mound against LHP Jalen Beeks (5-4, 2.40) for the PawSox. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. with pregame coverage set for 6:35 p.m. with Adam Marco and Adam Giardino.

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders Record:

38-39

Check out the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders Statistics

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Images from this story

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders pitcher Nestor Cortes
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders pitcher Nestor Cortes
(Todd Hiller)		   



International League Stories from June 28, 2018


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