IL1 Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders

SWB Game Notes - Governor's Cup Finals - Game 3

Published on September 13, 2018 under International League (IL1)
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders News Release


INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE PLAYOFFS

SCRANTON/WILKES-BARRE RAILRIDERS (1-1) vs. DURHAM BULLS (1-1)

RHP Michael King (0-0, 2.70) vs. RHP Chih-Wei Hu (1-0, 3.60)

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| Governor's Cup Championship Series | September 13, 2018 |

| PNC Field | Moosic, PA |

| First Pitch 6:35 p.m. | Pregame Show 6:05 p.m. |

LAST TIME OUT: The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders fell to the Durham Bulls 5-2 on Wednesday night at PNC Field. The best-of-five Governors' Cup Finals is now tied a 1-1 after the RailRiders were victorious in Tuesday's series opener.

Durham took the lead two batters into the game when Nestor Cortes walked Kean Wong and allowed a two-run home run to Rob Refsnyder. Cortes settled down from there and allowed only one more hit in his 6.0 innings of work. The southpaw struck out six batters on the night, including Refsnyder in the third to cap an epic 17-pitch battle.

Austin Pruitt was even stronger on the mound for the Bulls on Wednesday night, hurling 6.0 shutout frames despite several threats from the RailRiders. SWB pushed runners into scoring position in the first and fifth innings, but Pruitt didn't break and allow a run.

In the top of the seventh the Bulls added a run against Brady Lail to extend their lead to 3-0. With two outs Jason Coats tripled to right center and scored on an infield single from Jake Cronenworth. The righty reliever worked around a leadoff single in the eighth to toss a scoreless frame to cap his night. The Bulls tacked on two more runs in the top of the ninth inning when Nate Lowe took Cale Coshow deep for a two-run home run to extend a 5-0 advantage.

In the bottom of the ninth Giovanny Urshela doubled and scored on a two-run home run from Mike Ford, but Colin Poche hung on to close out the 5-2 Durham victory.

RailRiders pitchers struck out 11 Bulls batters in the contest, and four of the five hits collected by SWB batters were extra-base hits. Poche earned a save with three innings of work out of the bullpen, his first of the postseason. Urshela finished the night 2-for-4 with two doubles and a run scored.

KING ON THE HILL: RHP Michael King is expected to start Game 3 Thursday night for SWB. He was named the International League Player-of-the-Month for August. The right-hander went 3-0 with a 1.09 ERA in five starts in the month, which were also his first five career Triple-A appearances. King allowed only 17 hits on the month, holding opponents to a .149 batting average, while striking out 27 and walking four in 33.0 IP. The 2018 season marks the third straight year that the RailRiders have had an IL Player-of-the-Month, joining OF Aaron Judge in June of 2016 and OF Jake Cave in July of 2017. King is the first SWB pitcher to claim the award since RHP Brandon Duckworth in July of 2001 for the SWB Red Barons. King already faced the Durham Bulls in his second career Triple-A start, August 12 @ Durham. He tossed 6.2 IP and allowed 2R/2ER on 6 H for his first career Triple-A win.

STORM SHIFTS SERIES: Tuesday afternoon the International League announced that the entire Governor's Cup Championship Series will be played at PNC Field due to Hurricane Florence; a Category 3/4 storm bearing down on the Carolinas, Virginia and potentially Georgia. Durham will serve as the home team in Game 3 and any additional games needed in this best-of-five.

RUN IT BACK: The 2018 Governor's Cup finals are a rematch of the 2017 championship round. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre ousted Lehigh Valley- the IL North champions- Saturday night in Allentown, Pa. while the Durham Bulls sent Toledo home with a 3-1 series win. In 2017, the Bulls ended the RailRiders season with a 3-1 title series win before capturing the Triple-A National Championship at PNC Field over the Memphis Redbirds.

DOMINANT FROM THE START: Scranton/Wilkes-Barre starting pitchers compiled a 1.16 ERA (3R/3ER in 23.1 IP) in the four-game Lehigh Valley series to kick off the playoffs. RHP Erik Swanson, LHP Nestor Cortes, RHP Ryan Bollinger and RHP Michael King limited the IronPigs to just 11 hits during that span (11-for-79, .139 BAA), and RHP Domingo Germán picked up right where that quartet left off in Game 1 vs. Durham. In 3.0 shutout innings against the Bulls, hitters went 1-for-10 against the righty before Cortes made his second playoff start Wednesday night in Game 2 and pitched well despite picking up the loss. So now the numbers for RailRiders starting pitchers in the postseason are: 32.2 IP, 14 H (14-for-108, .130 BAA) 5R/5ER (1.38 ERA), 33 K

FINALS DESTINATION: For the ninth time in 12 years as an affiliate of the New York Yankees, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders have reached the postseason. Since 2007, the RailRiders have won two league titles and have reached the championship round four times. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre holds a 7-6 mark in playoffs series as a Yankees affiliate and an overall playoff record of 26-22 in that time frame. The Bulls have been to the title series 11 previous times and have won five Governor's Cups since 1998.

BULLISH SEASON: Durham claimed the IL South title with a 79-60 record; 9.0 games ahead of the Gwinnett Stripers. The Bulls had the league's 3rd-best batting average (.259), 2nd-most HR (141) and lead the IL in runs scored (653). Durham's pitching staff posted a 3.54 ERA (3rd overall) and struck out a league-high 1,267 batters. The Bulls took two of three in each series against the RailRiders during the 2018 regular season.

BRUCE ALMIGHTY: Bruce Caldwell's grand slam in Game 4 Saturday night plated more runs on one swing than any team had been used to scoring in any game of the series -- with neither team scoring more than 3R in any of the first three games. It was Caldwell's first career grand slam and was the decisive blow as SWB punched its ticket to the championship series. Caldwell then delivered the go-ahead double in Game 1 vs. Durham Tuesday night in the bottom of the 5th inning after the RailRiders had fallen behind 1-0. Caldwell, who has appeared in 4-of-5 postseason games for SWB, had played in only 3G for SWB since returning from Double-A Trenton where he was sent from 8/4 - 9/1.

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International League Stories from September 13, 2018


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