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IL1 Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders

RailRiders vs. Bulls - Game Notes - May 31, 2013

May 31, 2013 - International League (IL1)
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders News Release


C.C. SUCCESS: Caleb Cotham (1-3) allowed one unearned run over a career-best seven innings for his first Triple-A triumph as the RailRiders defeated the Norfolk Tides last night, 5-1.

SEVEN STRONG: Cotham's career-long seven-inning outing made him the sixth RailRider to last seven innings this season. Four of the other five have done it just once, while Chien-Ming Wang has turned the trick thrice. The RailRiders are 7-1 when their starter goes seven innings or more.

GOODBYE BIG FLY: Four of SWB's five runs came on two-out homers. Dan Johnson bombed his team co-leading sixth of the year to tie the game in the fourth. Ronnier Mustelier thundered his third in the eighth to salt the lead. His three-run shot came off a man with a decade of big league time, Mark Hendrickson.

STOP, THIEF!: The RailRiders had not amassed three steals as a team in a game all year. Melky Mesa, who led off for the fifth time this season, stole three all by himself including a pair in the eighth. That doubled his season-long total to a team-high six. Mesa tied his career-high mark reached just once before. He also took three in three tries at Erie while with Double-A Trenton on May 17, 2011.

DEMEL DOMINATES: Reliever Sam Demel stranded another runner last night. He has left 10 of his 11 hand-me-down men on the bases this season. Demel also logged his fifth straight scoreless outing. His 1.01 WHIP leads the team. As does his .184 batting average against. In 27.2 IP, Demel has struck out 34 men (11.1/9 IP) and has walked just nine (3.8:1 K:BB ratio). He has been especially stingy against his fellow right-handers, holding them to a .143 contact clip.

MOVING ON UP: The RailRiders' third win in five games lifted them back into third place thanks to Lehigh Valley's 13-10 loss at Rochester. Both the IronPigs and second-place Buffalo have lost four in a row. As a result, the RailRiders trail the Bisons by just 4.0 games. SWB still has 14 meetings with Buffalo left on its schedule and a dozen clashes with the first-place Pawtucket Red Sox.

SLOW & STEADY: Tonight marks the RailRiders' 53rd game of the season. The total number of their games that have gone at least nine innings and lasted less than 2:30? Two. One came in a 2-1 defeat of Columbus at PNC Field on April 23 that went 2:16. The other was a 2-0 loss to Indianapolis, also in Moosic, on May 8. That game took 2:29, but it included a 2:28 rain delay after the fifth when the game was official. The average for RailRiders' games that have gone at least nine innings this season - 2:53.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN: The RailRiders' two most recent road trips before this venture went quite differently. In their only other IL South tour, they went 8-0 at Charlotte and Gwinnett from April 27-May 5. Dave Miley's team followed that with a 1-7 showing at Toledo and Columbus from May 14-21. It is off to a 2-2 start on this sojourn after splitting a series at Norfolk. The team's home/road ERA splits are not enormous (4.06/4.16), but its offensive differences are extreme. At home, the RailRiders hit .230 and score 3.5 runs/game. On the road, the team contact clip surges to .263 and it scores 4.8 runs/game.

SOUTHERN COMFORT: No matter what happens during this series, the RailRiders are already assured of a winning road record against IL South foes. With the Norfolk split, SWB is 10-2 in the South with these four games left.

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