IL1 Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders

SWB Game Notes

Published on April 12, 2015 under International League (IL1)
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders News Release


LAST TIME OUT: The RailRiders could not hold a two-run lead late and the Syracuse Chiefs escaped PNC Field with a 4-2 win on Saturday afternoon.

THAT'S A START: In his first start since his Rocky Point H.S. days, Danny Burawa delivered two innings of scoreless and hitless baseball. Burawa had not gotten the nod in his first 134 career appearances before Saturday.

WOOT THERE HE IS: Southpaw Eric Wooten, who was scheduled to start today for Double-A Trenton, took the baton from there with 3.2 innings of work. He allowed just one unearned run after enduring a five-hour car ride from Erie, Pa. to Moosic for his first career Triple-A appearance.

TIME TO EAT THE DONUTS: Shutout No. 1 of 2015 came in the RailRiders' second contest of the year and against Syracuse on Friday night. The first blanking of SWB's 2014 campaign also came in the squad's second game and it was also suffered thanks to Syracuse pitching. On April 6, 2014, the RailRiders fell 3-0 in the opener of a twinbill at Syracuse. The starter for the Chiefs in that contest was the man who got the ball yesterday afternoon, Taylor Hill. Both games were three-hitters. In last year's nightcap, however, SWB exacted revenge with a 5-0 shutout win of its own. This year's follow-up contest saw the RailRiders lose a two-run lead in the eighth inning.

SHUTOUT NUMBERS: Syracuse and Durham co-led the IL last season with 15 shutout wins. The Chiefs also boasted the league's best winning percentage in shutout games, contrasting its 15 wins with a league-low five shutout losses. Three of those five shutout setbacks came against the RailRiders.

RECYCLING: On Opening Night, 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.

ROW, ROW, ROW YOUR BOAT: Austin Romine officially reported Friday 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 gave Dave Miley's team three active catchers.

OFF THE RAILS: Before Saturday's game, the New York Yankees signed the RailRiders' originally scheduled starter, southpaw Matt Tracy, to a Major League contract and selected him to the 25-man roster. Tracy did not allow an earned run over two innings yesterday in his MLB debut. The Yankees did not need to make a 40-man move since SWB alumnus Ivan Nova was placed on the 60-day DL. Lefty Chasen Shreve was optioned to SWB, but has not yet reported. Wooten also made his long journey to NEPA by car from Double-A. The moves were needed thanks to a 19-inning marathon that saw the Yankees fall to the Red Sox, 6-5. It marked the longest home game in terms of time in Yankees history and the second-longest overall behind a seven-hour, 22-inning game against the Tigers in 1962. It was the longest game in Red Sox history by time at six hours, 49 minutes.

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International League Stories from April 12, 2015


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