IL1 Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders

SWB Game Notes

August 24, 2015 - International League (IL1)
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders News Release


HOW SWEEP IT IS: The RailRiders completed a three-game weekend sweep of the second-place Rochester Red Wings on Sunday afternoon. The win gave the RailRiders their 10th sweep victory of the year and a 7.5-game lead over the second-place Red Wings with 16 games left to play.

18 AGAIN: SWB stands a season-best 18 games above .500. The franchise has not stood this many games above sea level since the 2012 SWB Yankees won the division at 84-60.

BOUNCING BACK: Gary Sanchez doubled twice on a 4-for-4 day with a pair of runs scored. It came a day after his final at-bat three-run homer snapped an 4-for-40 drought. His first four-hit game of 2015 was the fourth of his career to tie his career-high mark. He connected on four hits in a pair of games last season, both in the same series against the Richmond Flying Squirrels (San Francisco Giants) on May 23 and 26.

JUST WAIT 'TILL WE GET OUR HAYNES ON YOU: Kyle Haynes (2-1) hurled a career-high-tying seven innings to post the win. He allowed just one run and three hits while walking two and striking out four. After two starts, Haynes had an 11.42 ERA and a .419 batting average against. In his three nods since, Haynes has gone 2-0 with a 2.00 ERA and .172 BAA. His only other seven-inning outing came on Aug. 19, 2013 while with Low-A West Virginia (SAL) as a Pirates farmhand. He gave up one earned run on three hits that day, but took a no-decision to Joey Gallo's Hickory Crawdads.

ONE-SIDED RELATIONSHIP: The RailRiders have more wins against Pawtucket (13-3) than any other team this season, including a 5-0 mark in the Ocean State. They have taken eight straight and 19 of 22 going back to last season. SWB finished the 2015 regular season 8-3 against Pawtucket at PNC Field. The RailRiders have won 12 straight games at McCoy Stadium, outscoring the PawSox 65-26 in that run. The last loss came on May 17, 2014, 6-3.

THE ROCHESTER RIPPER: Austin Romine missed nearly a week after Rochester starter Lester Oliveros drilled him in the head with a fastball on June 12 after allowing back-to-back home runs to Rob Refsnyder and Kyle Roller. Romine returned to action six days later and delivered six RBIs including a grand slam to straightaway center in a June 18 win at the Red Wings' Frontier Field. He delivered the walk-off contact for the series-opening win in 14 innings on Friday and followed that Saturday night with a 3-for-4 effort that included a two-run double and a run scored. Yesterday he went 1-for-3 with three RBIs.

CRYSTAL BALLIN': The RailRiders have two games remaining against second-place Rochester and five versus third-place Buffalo. SWB has magic numbers of nine and eight with Rochester and Buffalo respectively. Any combination of SWB wins and losses by each foe totaling to those figures would cement a higher finish for the RailRiders. SWB's magic number for both Lehigh Valley and Syracuse's divisional eliminations sits at one.

TIGHTROPE WALKERS: Sixteen (52%) of SWB's last 31 games have been decided by one run and 23 (74%) have come down to two or less. It has gone 22-9 (.710) in that time and owns the IL's best one-run record at 26-16 (.619).

ALL ABOUT THE BENJAMIN: Ben Gamel doubled twice and delivered his team-best 58th RBI. The IL MVP candidate has hits in 24 of his last 26 with multiple knocks in 16 of those games. In that time, he has slashed .394/.448/.673/1.121 with 16 extra-base hits (5-3B, 4HR), 19 RBIs and 21 runs scored. He picked up his IL-best 13th outfield assist Saturday and co-paces all of MiLB with 14 triples, two shy of the single-season franchise record set by Shane Victorino in his 2005 IL MVP season. He entered today with the IL's third-best batting average (.306). He also ranks among the IL's best in hits (4th, 137), slugging (2nd, .479), extra-base hits (T-3rd, 45), runs scored (3rd, 69) and total bases (T-3rd, 214).

THE LEFTORIUM: Gamel doubled twice off out fellow lefty Taylor Rogers. Rogers entered yesterday having allowed just one extra-base hit to a left-handed hitter in 24 appearances/23 starts and 152 innings.

Check out the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders Statistics



International League Stories from August 24, 2015


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