IL1 Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders

SWB Game Notes

Published on July 24, 2018 under International League (IL1)
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders News Release


CHARLOTTE KNIGHTS (47-53) vs. SCRANTON/WILKES-BARRE RAILRIDERS (52-46)

RHP Spencer Adams (2-3, 3.32) vs. RHP Chance Adams (3-4, 4.89)

---

| Game No. 99 | Tuesday July 24, 2018 | PNC Field | Moosic, PA |

| First Pitch 7:05 p.m. | Pregame Show 6:35 p.m. |

LAST TIME OUT: A pair of home runs by the Columbus Clippers helped provide all the punch Sunday afternoon in a 5-0 win over the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders.

Columbus held a 1-0 lead after an inning of play thanks to a one-out sacrifice fly to plate Todd Hankins who had tripled off Nestor Cortes. One inning later, the decisive blow was delivered by the Clippers from Nellie Rodriguez. Cortes issued walks to Yu Chang and Eric Stamets in the inning, and with two outs Rodriguez flexed his muscle with an opposite-field blast that flew between the batter's eye and videoboard in right-centerfield, landed on the road and bounced into an adjacent parking lot. Columbus' lead was suddenly 4-0.

Five Columbus pitchers combined to limit the RailRiders offense to five hits, including only two hits over the first six innings. Adam Plutko allowed a double to Mike Ford in the second as part of 4.0 innings of one-hit ball with five strikeouts. Andrew Miller, an MLB All-Star who was pitching with the Clippers on a Major League rehab assignment, gave up a single to Bruce Caldwell in the fifth inning in his second appearance of the weekend series.

Caldwell finished 2-for-4 to raise his season average to .254 and extend his hit streak to a season-best five games with the RailRiders. He was one of two batters to notch a two-hit game, joining Ford (2-for-4). The RailRiders cap the seven-game roadtrip with a 4-3 record, securing a winning record on a seven-game roadtrip for the first time in 2018.

DOING THE MATH: The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders enter Tuesday's contest against the Charlotte Knights in 2nd place in the I.L. North, 7.5 games behind the Lehigh Valley IronPigs. The RailRiders have 41 games left in their season, and if they were to go 30-11 (.732) down the stretch, they'd need Lehigh Valley to play no better than 22-19 (.537) in order to win the division title. Lehigh Valley is 60-39 entering Tuesday and has a .606 win percentage on the season.

GETTING IN POSITION: The RailRiders were 7-5 on April 17, marking the last day they would be on the inside of the playoff cut in the International League for quite a while. It wasn't until Wednesday in Toledo that SWB found itself back in the playoff picture (Game No. 94), spanning 82 games and being as many as 6 games under .500 along the way (27-33). Coming into Tuesday, the RailRiders are 0.5 games out of a Wild Card spot behind the Norfolk Tides.

ROLLING THROUGH THE BREAK: Over the last 39G the RailRiders have own a 25-14 (.641) record to bring them up to 2nd place in the International League North standings. The RailRiders are 8-0-4 in their last 12 series and won 6-of-7 games leading into the All-Star Break and have won 6-of-11 games since. They still have not lost a series since dropping 2-out-of-3 games June 5-7 against the Durham Bulls at PNC Field.

PITCHING STAYS HOT: The RailRiders pitching staff had turned a corner since the calendar flipped to July. In the first 19G in July, the staff has thrown 168.2 innings and has allowed 56R/44ER for a 2.35 ERA. The next closest mark in the I.L. in that time is Pawtucket's 3.40 ERA and trails only Memphis (2.05 ERA) in all of MiLB. The team entered July with a 3.94 staff ERA and has lowered it to 3.62 despite one performance against Rochester where they allowed 9R/9ER on 16H. If you subtract one night July 13, in the other 18G the RailRiders have pitched to a 1.97 ERA (47R/35ER in 159.2 IP).

SLINGING IT: The RailRiders continue to get a strong performance out of its bullpen over the last month+. In the last 31G since June 17, the bullpen arms have combined for 107.0 IP, 56 H (4.7 H/9) and 25R/19ER (1.60 ERA). Over the last 8G specifically, the bullpen has thrown 26.2 IP, 4R/3ER (0.74 ERA), 8 H (8-for-84, .095 BAA) with 34 K. Over his last 6G individually, RHP Cody Carroll has thrown 6.0 IP while allowing 1H (1-for-19), 1R/0ER and striking out 11 in the process.

Check out the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



International League Stories from July 24, 2018


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central