IL1 Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders

RailRiders vs. Tide - Game Notes - May 30, 2013

Published on May 30, 2013 under International League (IL1)
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders News Release


HIGH TIDES: The RailRiders failed to touch the Orioles' 2011 and 2012 home-opening starter, Jake Arrieta, for more than one hit over his five frames as the Norfolk Tides held SWB to three hits in total for a 5-2 Norfolk win last night.

JUST LIKE OLD TIMES: In making his third spot start of the season, right-hander Kelvin Perez assembled his longest outing since his last start of 2010 for Low-A Charleston. He began that campaign as a starter for the RiverDogs, but went to the bullpen after he took a loss at Rome (Atlanta Braves) on June 17 of that year (6IP, 9H, 5R). He had not started again until his fill-in time with this year's RailRiders. He gave SWB 4.2 innings last night.

WALK ON: Dan Johnson walked three times last night to raise his season-long total to 44. With that, he passed Columbus outfielder/DH Jeremy Hermida (43) for the league lead. Johnson entered today trailing only Double-A Mississippi (Atlanta Braves) first baseman Christian Marrero (47) for the most in the minors. Christian is the brother of Syracuse first baseman Chris Marrero.

GIDDY UP: Zoilo Almonte bounced into his IL-leading 11th groundball double play to end the sixth inning last night. That tied him for the most in minor league baseball. In the Triple-A PCL, Sacramento (Oakland Athletics) outfielder Michael Choice has matched that mark, as has Low-A West Virginia (Pittsburgh Pirates) outfielder Raul Fortunato.

BASES FULL: The RailRiders made it a game late last night thanks to an eighth-inning two-out rally. They loaded the bases with two down and Ronnier Mustelier came through. While Thomas Neal has hit .364 with the bases loaded, his teammates owned a composite .128 (6-for-47) mark until Mustelier got his first such hit by threading a just-fair two-run single inside of third.

HITMEN: On Monday, the RailRiders fired their second two-hitter of the season. But over the last two nights, SWB's pitching staff has surrendered 14 and 11 base hits respectively. The staff has allowed double-digit hits in nine of its last 10 games and 12 of 15. On the other side, SWB's bats mustered just three hits last night, tying a season-low mark now reached three times. Outside of Corban Joseph's two-hit night, the rest of the team went 1-for-24 (.042).

PITCHING PROBLEMS: After defeating Gwinnett on May 11, 4-3, the RailRiders' pitching staff owned a 2.98 ERA. The team was also a season-high-tying six games over .500. In losing 14 of 17 since, the staff has allowed 107 earned runs in 146.2 IP (6.67 ERA) while watching 18 balls leave the yard. Starters have gone 2-8 in that time while giving up 63 earned runs in 77.1 IP (7.33 ERA) and allowing 12 of the home runs. The bullpen has gone 1-6 with 44 earned runs and six taters surrendered in 69.1 IP (5.71 ERA). SWB spent most of the early stage of the season among the IL's best in team ERA, often ranking just behind Indianapolis. It entered today with a 4.19 mark that placed it ninth in the 14-team circuit.

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. As a consequence, despite Monday's victory in the road trip opener, SWB has dropped six of its last seven on the road and nine of 11. The team's home/road ERA splits are not enormous (4.06/4.35), 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 .276 and it scores 4.8 runs/game.

GETTING DEFENSIVE: Despite Alberto Gonzalez's first error as a RailRider last night, the RailRiders still own the league's best team defensive numbers by far. SWB has committed a league-low 30 errors and owns a .984 fielding percentage. The next-lowest error total belongs to Buffalo (39).

Check out the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders Statistics

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International League Stories from May 30, 2013


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