IL1 Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders

RailRiders vs. Bisons - Game Notes - June 10, 2013

Published on June 10, 2013 under International League (IL1)
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders News Release


SUNDAY NOT-SO-FUNDAY: A four-spot in the first was all the visiting Buffalo Bisons needed for a 4-1 defeat of the RailRiders on Sunday afternoon.

TICKET TIME: Sunday's announced attendance of 7,154 made for back-to-back SWB games with more tickets sold than hard seats available (7,115). The season-long total stands at five. The SWB franchise had not had consecutive hard-seat sellouts since August of 2010.

TRUMPED ACE: SWB wins leader Chris Bootcheck had held left-handed hitters to a .188 average and three extra-base hits all season. With five southpaw swingers and a switch-hitter in their nine, the Bisons totaled four runs on five hits in the first inning against the RailRiders' season-long ace. That big inning included three extra-base hits by lefties, all of whom came around to score.

BATTLING BACK: Following the first, Bootcheck fired six scoreless innings with four of his five strikeouts. He had not endured many opening-inning difficulties before Sunday. In fact, the run total he allowed in that first frame (4) matched what he had surrendered in his prior 10 first innings on the season (4).

ALL GOOD THINGS: Addison Maruszak lost his season-long hitting streak at 11 games with an 0-for-3 showing on Sunday. During his string of success, he hit .368 (14-for-38) with four doubles, one triple, one homer, seven RBIs and nine runs scored. He lifted his season-long contact clip from .194 on May 17 to .245. Before the streak, he had not owned an average that good since May 7. He fell one game short of Zoilo Almonte's 12-gamer from April 25-May 7 for the team's best 2013 hit streak. Maruszak entered Sunday tied for the IL's second-longest active streak. Jackie Bradley, Jr., who was optioned back to Pawtucket Saturday, returned to the IL with a hit on Sunday to stretch his streak to 13. Gwinnett's Tyler Pastornicky also lost an 11-game string on Sunday.

SHORT REST: Due to Toronto's 18-inning game the night before, Buffalo's scheduled Sunday starter, Thad Weber, was a late scratch for a call to the bigs. Consequently, Dave Bush, who had thrown two innings of relief on Wednesday, was bumped up two days from his scheduled Tuesday nod. He showed no ill effects. Thomas Neal began the game with a well-hit lineout to right and Almonte followed with a single up the middle. Bush then retired 16 straight RailRiders on mostly weak contact until Neal singled a two-strike pitch the opposite way in the sixth. Bush (7-4), who started and won the first Buffalo/SWB meeting of 2013 on April 14, struck out five and walked none over his six innings of two-hit ball. The IL's co-leader in homers allowed (13) also tied Durham's J.D. Martin and Louisville's Greg Reynolds for the most wins in the loop.

OFFENSE OF LATE: In losing three straight, the RailRiders have scored seven runs while hitting just .160 (15-for-94) with three extra-base hits. SWB ranks 13th in the 14-team IL in team batting average (.246) and runs/game (4.16). Toledo is last in both categories (.243/4.02).

FELIZ CUMPLEAÑOS: Zoilo Almonte turns 24 today. The first-year Triple-A man paces SWB with 34 RBIs. His .278 average ties him with Tampa's Gary Sanchez for fifth-best on the Yankees' farm. His bat has proven clutch as his contact clip surges to .306 with men on and .348 with men on and two outs. He had half of SWB's four hits Sunday for his team co-leading 17th multi-hit game.

ROSTER MOVES: After the game yesterday, the Yankees announced three changes to the RailRiders' roster. Southpaw Vidal Nuno and outfielder Brennan Boesch both hit the disabled list. Joe Girardi told the New York media that Nuno had suffered a groin injury in his Friday start at Syracuse, prompting his second-inning exit. Boesch did not take the field defensively in the fourth against Syracuse at PNC Field on Wednesday. He told Donnie Collins of the Scranton Times-Tribune the reason for his departure was shoulder tightness. Graham Stoneburner has returned to the RailRiders from Double-A Trenton. In eight games/seven starts with SWB, Stoneburner is 2-3 with a 4.32 ERA. He appeared in three games with Trenton since he left SWB, tossing three scoreless innings of one-hit ball.

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