IL1 Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders

SWB Game Notes

Published on July 1, 2014 under International League (IL1)
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders News Release


FRIENDLY FIRE: A back-and-forth battle between regional rivals tilted on one signature moment. And it belonged to NEPA's own Russ Canzler. Unfortunately, he no longer plays for the local squad. His first-pitch three-run homer off Danny Burawa in the seventh inning snapped a 5-5 draw and put the IronPigs ahead for good in a 9-7 loss for the RailRiders last night.

BEST MONTH EVER: Earlier today, Jose Pirela was named the IL's June Player of the Month. He led the loop with 40 June hits, three more than his next-closest competitors. He hit .336/.385/.504/.889 on the month with 10 extra-base hits, five steals, 18 RBIs and 21 runs scored. He also saw time at second base, left field and, for the first time in his career, added first base and right field to the fray. The IL's final Player of the Week in May carried his hot hitting into June with a franchise-record-tying five-hit performance on the first of the month. It was the start of a great June that saw Pirela safely reach base in all but two of his 28 games played. For the season, Pirela ranks among the IL's leaders in batting average (7th, .314), hits (2nd, 96), runs scored (2nd, 53) and total bases (T-3rd, 153).

DOUBLE-B: Opening Day man Bruce Billings (4-5) lost for the fourth time in as many starts. He has posted a 6.38 ERA in that time while allowing six home runs. Over six-plus innings on Monday he allowed a dozen hits. That marks the most hits surrendered by a single SWB pitcher in an outing this season. It trumped a difficult 11-hit outing for Zach Nuding on May 3 at Norfolk. Coincidentally enough, the last 12-hit suffering for a RailRider came against Lehigh Valley when the Pigs tagged Brett Marshall with a dozen knocks on Aug. 4 of last season.

OFF THE RAILS: Last night's crowd of 7,507 made for a fixed-seat sellout...The RailRiders have led in 20 (47%) of their 43 losses...SWB fell to 8-26 (.235) when its foe scores first...The RailRiders allowed three homers for the second time all season...The prior occasion came on May 3 at Norfolk...Scott Sizemore tripled twice and now owns a team-high five...He has never had more than five triples in a season...Each team saw half of its hits go for extra bases (Lehigh Valley 7 of 14; SWB 5 of 10)... Four Lehigh Valley pitchers threw a total of 161 pitches with just 80 (49.7%) of them going for strikes.

WHAT ABOUT BOB?: After starting his Triple-A tenure 2-for-16, Rob Refsnyder has gone 22-for-50 (.440/.582/.760/1.342) with nine extra-base hits (three home runs), nine RBIs, 16 walks and 16 runs scored in 16 games. Refsnyder assembled the IL's best June marks in average (.364), on-base percentage (.494) and OPS (1.100). The June OBP led all of Triple-A.

JUST-US LEAGUE: The RailRiders lead the loop in batting average (.271) and slugging (.408)...However, SWB has the IL's second-lowest walk total (253, 3/game) and just a .335 OBP...Lehigh Valley ranks second-worst with its .245 contact clip and last with its .367 slugging percentage...Lehigh Valley ranks 10th in the 14-team league with its 4.23 ERA while SWB stands 11th at 4.43...The RailRiders own the IL's second-worst fielding percentage (.976) while the IronPigs boast its third-best rate (.983).

IRONRAIL TROPHY: The RailRiders trail the IronRail race, 7-4. They now must win four of the last five meetings including the Labor Day regular-season finale to defend their IronRail title. Last year's team did exactly that to claim the rivalry trophy in the inaugural season of the formal IronRail series.

STOP, THIEVES!: Steve Susdorf swiped third base in the opening inning and later scored on a single. The RailRiders have allowed their opponents to successfully swipe a bag in each of their last 23 tries. The RailRiders have nabbed just 21 of 108 (.194) would-be base stealers. No IL team has had more stolen base attempts or successes against it than SWB which has the circuit's worst caught-stealing efficiency. Lehigh Valley leads the league with its .415 caught-stealing efficiency including the nabbing of Refsnyder at second in last night's home third.

Check out the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders Statistics

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International League Stories from July 1, 2014


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