IL1 Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders

SWB Game Notes

Published on June 2, 2016 under International League (IL1)
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders News Release


YESTERDAY: The RailRiders never knew a lead as the Durham Bulls (Tampa Bay Rays) took their rubber match on Wednesday afternoon, 4-3. The RailRiders went 3-2 on their rain-shortened road trip while the Bulls (22-32) won a series for the first time since taking two of three from last-place Norfolk May 6-8. All three of those Norfolk games required extra innings. The Bulls had lost six straight sets.

IT'S NOT EASY BEING GREEN: The RailRiders' Chad Green (4-4) suffered the loss despite a sixth straight quality start. He had won each of his prior four nods. After the game, his sixth-inning wild pitch was changed to a passed ball on Kyle Higashioka, dropping an earned run off his line. Green was ultimately charged with three runs (two earned) on six hits and one walk over six innings, whiffing five. He still ranks among the IL's best in ERA (3rd, 1.45).

LOOK OUT BELOW: In the nine-hole, Jonathan Diaz drove in three runs and went 1-for-3 with a walk. The day before, he went 1-for-2 with two walks and a pair of stolen bases, his first two swipes of the season. He played his college baseball at N.C. State, just a 30-minute drive from the Bulls' stadium.

@THE_HIGSTER: Higashioka went 2-for-4 with a pair of runs scored. The RailRiders lost for the first time with him behind the plate. Each of his first three starts with SWB this season had been shutout victories. "Higgy" entered 2016 as a .233 career hitter before slashing .286/.338/.437/.775 in 34 games as the primary catcher for Double-A Trenton to start this season. SWB's pitchers own a 0.77 ERA when he has caught them in 2016.

FIRST TIME IN A LONG TIME: The RailRiders took two of three versus the Clippers at PNC Field last August. That made for the SWB franchise's first series win over Columbus in NEPA since the last Red Barons swept Dave Miley's Clippers in a four-game set from April 18-21, 2006.

SO CLOSE, BUT SO FAR: SWB and Columbus split the 2015 series, 3-3, with four of the games decided by one run. Seventeen of the last 31 clashes between the clubs have come down to a single score with Columbus taking 10 of those close calls. The RailRiders have lost 17 of the last 21 meetings with 11 one-run final scores.

CLIP SHOW: Columbus started the year 5-7 before an 11-game winning streak April 21-May 1 with four straight series sweeps. The club has since stood as many as 10 games above .500 three times, most recently at 23-13. It enters this set with wins in three of five, but losses in six of nine. Columbus has won consecutive games once since taking the first three of four versus Lehigh Valley May 9-11.

SIX DEGREES OF KARSAY: Columbus pitching coach Steve Karsay was a Yankee from 2002-05. Over 91 relief outings in pinstripes he went 6-4 with 12 saves and a 3.39 ERA. The club won the A.L. East all four years he was with the Bombers, including when he missed the 2003 season after shoulder surgery. Per Steve Hirdt of the Elias Sports Bureau, Karsay boasts a unique connection to the Mount Rushmore-like six-man Baseball Hall of Fame class in 2014. Karsay was the only man to have been a teammate of that year's three player inductees and a player for the three manager inductees. He played with Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine in Atlanta and Frank Thomas in Oakland. He played for Tony La Russa with the A's, Bobby Cox with the Braves and Joe Torre with the Yankees.

OFF THE RAILS: Durham's Jaff Decker had one RBI over a dozen games entering the series...He drove in three scores in two games played on the set and snapped an 0-for-15 slide with his run-scoring single on Wednesday...Durham starter Jaime Schultz (4-2) earned the win yesterday, overcoming a season-high five walks...SWB finished the month of May at 18-11, the most May wins for the franchise since the 2008 Governors' Cup title team also won 18 games...However, Al Pedrique's club posted a better winning percentage than Miley's unit that lost a dozen May games in 2008...Only Rochester (19-10) had a better May in the IL than SWB...Over his last 15 games, Aaron Judge has gone 7-for-57 (.123) with no extra-base hits, four walks and 20 strikeouts...He is hitless over his last 20 at-bats with eight strikeouts, a funk that has dropped his batting average to a season-low .224...At .286, his OBP is the lowest it has been since it was at .250 after the season's first two games...At .378, his slugging percentage is lowest it has been since it stood at .333 after game three of the campaign.

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International League Stories from June 2, 2016


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