SWB Game Notes - July 7, 2026
IL Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders

SWB Game Notes - July 7, 2026

Published on July 7, 2026 under International League (IL)
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders News Release


Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (7-4, 44-41) vs Buffalo Bisons (7-5, 42-45)

July 7, 2026 | Game 86 | Away Game 45 | Sahlen Field Field | First Pitch 6:35 P.M.

LH Will Brian (0-0, 2.25) vs TBD

Brian (In Relief): 0-0, 2.25 ERA, 5 G, 8.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 HR, 6 BB, 11 SO

LAST TIME OUT

MOOSIC, PA (July 5, 2026) -The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders defeated the Norfolk Tides Sunday at PNC Field. The home team took game one, 5-2, on a walk-off grand slam by Jonathan Ornelas to win the series, but game two was canceled due to inclement weather after only reaching the second inning.

Game one featured a battle between a pair of top Minor League pitching prospects, with Yankees #11 Kyle Carr, who made his Triple-A debut, facing Orioles #10 Nestor German. Carr worked around back-to-back walks to start the top of the second, striking out a pair and getting help from catcher J.C. Escarra, who caught José Barrero stealing second to close the inning clean. The RailRiders could not mount any runs against German, managing a pair of singles in the first and the fourth but failing to push any base runners across. After the walk to Barrero, Carr retired 11 batters in a row until the top of the sixth, when the Tides knocked consecutive singles and a walk to load the bases with no one out. A throwing error to home on a fielder's choice from Heston Kjerstad broke the scoreless game, and a second fielder's choice in the frame from Ryan Noda gave Norfolk a 2-0 edge.

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the frame. With one out, Escarra turned on a four-seam fastball and sent it 387 feet over the left field wall to pull within one. In the bottom of the seventh, Tyler Hardman walked, and Ernesto Martínez Jr. and Kenedy Corona singled to load the bases with no one out. With two outs, Ornelas took the first offering he saw and blasted his eighth homer of the season 432 feet and 107.9 MPH off the bat to walk off the Tides.

Carr pitched 5.2 innings, allowing two unearned runs on three hits, walking three and striking out seven. Yovanny Cruz (6-3) worked 1.1 scoreless innings for the win. German tossed 5.0 scoreless frames, giving up four hits while striking out four. Hans Crouse (3-2) allowed four runs on three hits in defeat.

The RailRiders and Tides made it into the second frame but as rain poured down, the umpires called for the tarp. After a 33-minute delay, the game was canceled due to inclement weather.

NEWS AND NOTES

IT IS GRAND- The RailRiders have hit six grand slams this season, including two from Spencer Jones and Jonathan Ornelas. Ornelas hit a walk-off grand slam on Sunday to win the game for the RailRiders. They have also recorded home runs with all runners aboard on thanks to Kenedy Corona and Ernesto Mártinez Jr. However, the team is batting just .247 in 77 at-bats with the bases loaded.

ORNELAS KEEPS IT UP- With a two-hit day on Sunday, Jonathan Ornelas lifted his batting average to .305 on the season. He has held the best average throughout the season for SWB. The righty has played in 69 games with the RailRiders having produced a dozen doubles, three triples, and eight home runs. Ornelas has batted in 35 runs and scored 38 of his own. He has also swiped nine bases. The 26-year-old was signed by New York as a minor league free agent on 11/6/25.

SOUTHPAW STRUT- Will Brian was impressive last Friday tossing 2.1 scoreless frames out of the bullpen. He sat down all seven batters he faced, including recording three strikeouts. It was just his fifth appearance in Triple-A and he lowered his earned run average to 2.25 in eight frames. Brian began the season in Double-A with a 4.23 ERA in 21 outings.

DUKE'S DASHING- With another swipe on Friday, Duke Ellis now has 34 steals on the season. He has the second most in the International League behind just Worcester's Braiden Ward who has just two more. Ellis also has recorded the most steals in the Yankees' entire minor league system in 54 games. The lefty was claimed by New York off of waivers from Seattle back in 2024 and has spent parts of three seasons with SWB. Ellis is verging on the RailRiders single season and team-career stolen base records. The single season record is held by Tommy Barrett who had 33 in 1989. Nick Punto holds the career Scranton/Wilkes-Barre high with 82 swipes in parts of three seasons from 2001-2003.

WHAT HAPPENED- The RailRiders and the Tides lost a game, marking the second canceled contest for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre this season. Despite every effort to play on the fourth of July, Mother Nature forced the postponement of the contest. The teams were set to play two on Sunday. SWB took the first contest 5-2 in seven frames. They only made it into the second inning of game two before the tarp was called for by the umpires. The weather was just too much to bear and the game was canceled. Despite the 1-0 score and the arms utilized, the game was not official and none of the stats will be added to the player totals.

Check out the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders Statistics

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