IL1 Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders

SWB Game Notes

Published on April 12, 2016 under International League (IL1)
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders News Release


HOME AWAY FROM HOME: The RailRiders' ownership of McCoy Stadium continues. For the 13th time in their last 16 games at the home of the Pawtucket Red Sox, the RailRiders claimed victory in enemy territory with a 6-3 series-opening win on Monday night.

TEAM EFFORT: SWB hit for the team cycle in a pivotal five-run fifth. Ben Gamel, who finished a home run shy of a personal cycle, got it going with a triple. Aaron Judge doubled him home, took third on a wild pitch and scored on a Slade Heathcott sac fly. Gary Sanchez walked, Donovan Solano notched the third of his three hits and Cesar Puello later sent all three of them home with a home run to right-center for a 6-0 lead.

LORD I WAS BORN A GAMELING MAN: Gamel, last season's IL Rookie of the Year, broke out of his early season funk with a 3-for-4 effort. He entered the game 1-for-13 with no walks and five strikeouts as the everyday leadoff man. He singled to start the game last night, doubled in the second and tripled to spark the fifth. Gamel had two other chances to achieve the cycle, but walked in the sixth and grounded out to second base in the ninth. As the fourth SWB outfielder to begin 2015, he hit .383/.448/.617/1.064 last April en route to a season-long slashes of .300/.358/.472/.830. That included a league-best 14 triples.

REMEMBER WHEN?: SWB's most recent cycle came on Opening Night 2015 when Ramon Flores turned the trick versus Syracuse. It remains the lone cycle for an SWB player under the Yankees' umbrella. The franchise's prior cycle came on July 14, 2006 versus Toledo when Brennan King singled, doubled, tripled and homered in succession for the then-Red Barons as a farmhand of the Philadelphia Phillies. Fan favorite Jon Zuber also hit for the cycle at Columbus on May 1, 1997. Flores is currently playing for the Milwaukee Brewers and has gone 1-for-11 with three strikeouts in five games played.

GOING DEEP: Puello crushed SWB's first home run of the season and his first since 2014. Limited to just one game a season ago, the former Mets prospect had last gone yard on Aug. 31, 2014 with his second in as many days at Albuquerque. The then-Las Vegas 51's homer was part of an early 8-0 for the vistors, but the host Isotopes rallied for a 12-11 walk-off win.

HOT START: Slade Heathcott has seven of SWB's 28 hits through four games. He has gone 7-for-15 (.467/.471/.533/1.004). The rest of the team has gone a collective 21-for-112 (.188) with 32 strikeouts (29% of at-bats).

FEAST OR FAMINE: The RailRiders have failed to score in 28 of their 33 innings through four games. Of their 14 runs scored this season, 11 have come between a pair of frames: a six-run sixth versus Rochester on Friday; and last night's five run fifth. Last year's RailRiders ranked among the IL's best in batting average (1st, .271), runs scored (1st, 4.3/game), on-base percentage (1st, .339) and slugging (4th, .389).

NEMESIS: The RailRiders posted more wins against Pawtucket (13-6) than any other team in 2015. They went 5-3 in the Ocean State and 8-3 at PNC Field. They have taken nine of 12 and 20 of 26 in the series going back to 2014. That includes wins in 13 of 16 at McCoy Stadium, outscoring the PawSox, 75-40.

OFF THE RAILS: The RailRiders led the IL with 42 road wins last season...They also posted the most divisional wins in the circuit, going 52-38 (.578) against their IL North brothers.

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International League Stories from April 12, 2016


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