IL1 Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders

SWB Game Notes

Published on July 5, 2014 under International League (IL1)
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders News Release


RALLY RIDERS: They trailed before they even grabbed their bats. They were down to their final strike six times in the ninth. In one of the more dramatic ways possible during regular-season play - they won. In front of the sellout crowd of 10,000, the RailRiders rallied to beat the Bisons on Independence Day by a fitting final of 7-6. Rob Refsnyder's first lifetime walk-off home run, a two-out three-run shot in the ninth, capped off a crazy rally.

TO THE FOURTH POWER: On the Fourth of July, Refsnyder capped off his team's rally from a four-run deficit to claim its fourth walk-off win of the year with his fourth home run of the season. He wears No. 13 on his back (1+34).

TRY ME ON FOR SIZE: Scott Sizemore's hot hitting continued. His 3-for-4 night included two doubles, two RBIs and one run scored as he extended his longest hitting streak of the season to eight games (.400/.438/.800/1.238, 12-for-30, 8XBH, 10RBI). Over his last 23 contests he has gone 27-for-87 with over half of his hits (14) going for extra bases (8-2B, 3-3B, 3HR) and 19 RBIs. That makes for a .310 batting average and a .575 slugging percentage.

SWING & A MISS: Danny Burawa fanned six of his seven batters faced Friday night to record career-high six strikeouts. He previously whiffed five twice, last on April 13, 2013 against the Double-A Richmond Flying Squirrels (San Francisco Giants). The last RailRider to whiff six in relief? Current New York Yankee Jim Miller on April 26, 2013 versus Columbus. He took the loss in that 3-2 setback thanks to an eighth-inning homer by SWB alumnus Matt Carson.

DIFFERENT LEVEL, DIFFERENT MAN: Carmen Angelini's first triple of the season sparked the two-out ninth-inning rally. In 37 games with the RailRiders he has hit .235 with nine extra-base hits among his 28 (SLG .319). In 26 games at Double-A he has hit just .135 with a .191 slugging percentage.

FA SO DE LA: Starter Joel De La Cruz's struggles continued. He gave up five runs on seven hits over his four frames. He allowed two homers, fired two wild pitches, hit a batter, walked one and struck out one. He went at least five innings in each of his first four SWB starts, posting a 1.90 ERA and .200 BAA in the process as the team went 3-1. In his last eight outings he has gone five frames just once while going 1-4 with a 6.53 ERA and a .341 BAA as the team has gone 3-5.

JUST-US LEAGUE: The RailRiders (.270) trail only Rochester (.272) for the league lead in batting average...Only SWB's next foe starting Sunday, Charlotte (.410), has a better slugging percentage than SWB (.406)...However, the RailRiders are tied with Rochester for the IL's lowest walk total (266, 3/game), giving SWB a relatively slim .335 OBP...Buffalo ranks ninth with its .258 contact clip and third-worst in slugging (.381)...Buffalo stands sixth in the league with its 3.62 ERA while SWB sits 11th at 4.33...The RailRiders own the IL's third-worst fielding percentage (.977) while the Bisons boast its second-best rate (.983).

OFF THE RAILS: The RailRiders have had 56 different players see game action this season (21 position players, 35 pitchers)...If/when Yangervis Solarte debuts, he will become the 57th different player...Last year's team had 73 different players see game action...That number fell two short of the IL's single-season record set by Norfolk in 2012...Friday's sellout paid crowd of 10,000 was the largest to see a RailRiders home game this season...Francisco Arcia was sent down to Double-A Trenton today to make room for Solarte who reported after his July 3 option from the big club...The RailRiders' first win of the season on a walk-off home run came two days after their first loss on a walk-off homer...Both games had the RailRiders facing these Bisons (Dan Johnson hit one in the opener of Wednesday's twinbill)...Dan Johnson had delivered SWB's last walk-off home run before Refsnyder's heroics...Johnson took Lehigh Valley's Jay Johnson (no relation) out of PNC Field on Aug. 18, 2013...Jay Johnson had held IL lefties to an 0-for-14 showing with nine strikeouts before Dan's southpaw swing...Jay had allowed just one home run to a lefty on his then-three-year pro career (164 at-bats) before surrendering Dan's game-winning shot (Oswaldo Arcia in Double-A on Aug. 11, 2012).

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