IL1 Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders

SWB Game Notes

Published on April 10, 2015 under International League (IL1)
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders News Release


OH WHAT A NIGHT: Opening Night 2015 had it all. Ramon Flores hit for the cycle to pace a 16-hit offensive as the bats awoke late and the RailRiders' heralded bullpen lived up to its billing in an 8-3 triumph over the Chiefs.

RECYCLING: Flores delivered the first cycle in the Yankees era for the franchise. Red Barons legend Jon Zuber turned the trick at Columbus on May 1, 1997. Brennan King matched that feat on July 14, 2006 versus Toledo. King's was a natural cycle. He led off the second inning with a single, delivered an RBI double in the third and belted a bases-loaded triple in the fifth. In the seventh, the then-25-year-old third baseman drilled his ninth homer over the left-field wall to extend the Red Barons' lead to 13-0. It was a two-out grand slam in his final at-bat of the game. He ended the contest with eight RBIs as he fell one RBI short of Mark Budzinski's team record set in 2004 that still stands today.

FLORES HAD A SECRETARY NAMED PIRELA...: Both times a 2014 RailRider came close to the cycle Jose Pirela was the man dancing with history. Pirela tied the franchise record with five hits and fell a home run shy at Indianapolis on June 1. That was the same game that saw Flores injured when his foot awkwardly hit the first-base bag legging out an infield single. Pirela took Flores' spot in left field that game. On August 22 in Buffalo, Pirela finished a single short of the cycle. That was also Flores' first game back from his injury suffered on June 1. Flores himself went 4-for-4 and finished a home run short of the cycle on April 13 of last season, coincidentally enough against Syracuse.

BULLISH PEN: The RailRiders' relief corps. kept the team in the game by combining for 5.1 innings of one-hit ball. Danny Burawa, Tyler Webb, Nick Rumbelow (1-0), Jacob Lindgren and Jose Ramirez bridged the way to the victory. Lindgren, the Yankees' top pick in the 2014 draft, needed just three pitches (two strikes) to strand the team's lone inherited runner.

RISPY BUSINESS: The team entered the seventh inning down 3-2 thanks in part to a 1-for-9 showing with men in scoring position. Five straight men then reached base with one out as the team assembled a three-run inning to take the lead the rest of the way. The first three hits came with a man in prime real estate as the team finished the night 5-for-9 in RISP situations.

ROW, ROW, ROW YOUR BOAT: Austin Romine officially reported today after being outrighted by the Yankees on Wednesday. Romine battled with SWB alumnus John Ryan Murphy for the big club's back-up backstop role. Romine was out of options and had to clear waivers. A second-round pick by the Yankees' in 2007, Romine has spent four prior seasons with SWB hitting .243 in 116 career games. His NEPA tenure started in 2011 when he was named one of the game's Top-100 prospects by Baseball America. He made his big league debut that September. He hit .171/.216/.200 in 19 spring training games with the big league club last month. His addition gives Dave Miley's team three active catchers and brings the squad's active roster up to the league maximum of 25 players.

OFF THE RAILS: The SWB franchise improved to 10-17 in season openers...Tyler Austin drove in a game-high three runs...All three RBIs came in bases-loaded plate appearances...His bases-full single scored two in the seventh while a sac fly in the eighth made for the team's eighth score...Austin had been in a lengthy funk with the bases juiced, going just 1-for-15 at Double-A or above on his career....All six of Syracuse's hits were singles.

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International League Stories from April 10, 2015


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