SWB Game Notes

April 9, 2019 - International League (IL1)
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders News Release

SCRANTON/WILKES-BARRE RAILRIDERS (2-3) @ LEHIGH VALLEY IRONPIGS (4-1)

LHP Gio Gonzalez (0-1, 18.00) vs. LHP JoJo Romero (No Record)

ALLENTOWN, PA - A flurry of offense in the first few innings from the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, but one decisive swing by Dylan Cozens of the Lehigh Valley IronPigs and the RailRiders dropped Monday's series-opener, 5-4.

It was a beautiful, 74-degree night at Coca-Cola Park and the baseballs were flying all over the outfield early. SWB put three runs on the board off IronPigs starter, Drew Anderson. Mike Ford singled with one out and stood at second base with two outs when the rally began. Ryan McBroom, Gosuke Katoh and Kyle Higashioka all delivered run-scoring singles in the frame and it was 3-0 RailRiders before Drew Hutchison threw a pitch.

Lehigh Valley struck for a run in the bottom of the first off Hutchison, but SWB got it right back thanks to a leadoff triple from Billy Burns an inning later. He scored on an RBI groundout by Matt Lipka. The real damage by Lehigh Valley came in the bottom of the second where Dylan Cozens drilled a no-doubt grand slam to turn a 4-1 deficit into a 5-4 lead from which the RailRiders offense could not rally.

The RailRiders bullpen was excellent in back of Hutchison, not allowing a run over 3.1 IP while surrendering just one hit. Both J.P. Feyereisen and Joe Harvey were efficient, recording the final 10 outs on just 36 pitches as they hoped their offense would spark a come-from-behind win. Instead, the RailRiders fell to 2-3 on the season with the IronPigs improving to 4-1.

THEY'VE DUG UP A GEM IN GIO: Scranton/Wilkes-Barre's Opening Day starting pitcher was LHP Gio Gonzalez, who has pitched in the big leagues for 11 seasons among three different organizations (Oakland Athletics, Washington Nationals and Milwaukee Brewers). He ranks 118th on the all-time MLB career strikeout list, with only six players ahead of him who have ever worn a Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Jersey:

No. 3 Roger Clemens 4,672 K (2007 Rehab)

No. 15 Curt Schilling 3,116 K (1996 Rehab & 2000 Rehab)

No. 42 Andy Pettitte 2,448 K (2012 Rehab)

No. 45 Cole Hamels 2,419 K

No. 72 Kevin Millwood 2,083 K

No. 111 Randy Wolf 1,814 K (2001 Rehab)

No. 118 Gio Gonzalez 1,748 K

JOJO IS A GOGO: The Lehigh Valley IronPigs are set to start LHP Jo Jo Romero Tuesday night against the RailRiders for his season and Triple-A debut. The lefty enters the season as the No. 7 prospect in the Philadelphia Phillies system according to Baseball America, and is coming off a year in which he played exclusively for Double-A Reading and went 7-6 with a 3.80 ERA in 18G/18GS (106.2 IP, 97 H (.241 BAA), 100 K (8.4 K/9)). Two seasons ago, he was named the Minor League Pitcher of the Year for the Phillies after posting a 10-3 record and a 2.16 ERA over 23G/23GS between Single-A Lakewood and High-A Clearwater.

DRIVING THE BASEBALL: Sunday, the RailRiders earned a 10-2 win over the Buffalo Bisons, and the longball played a big role. The team hit six homers, which is more than they hit in any game all of last year. Leading the way was Mike Ford, who became just the fifth player in SWB history with a 3-homer game, and only the third to do it in a nine-inning game (Last: Zoilo Almonte, 7/23/2014 @ Gwinnett). The only other instance in a nine-inning game was Gary Bennett, 8/16/1998 @ Buffalo.

FOR WHOM IT TOLLS: It was announced January 24, 2019 that Jay Bell had replaced Bobby Mitchell as Manager for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders for the 2019 season. He played over 2,000 games during an 18-year Major League career and has spent the last two years managing in the Yankees organization with Double-A Trenton and High-A Tampa. Bell is joined on staff by Pitching Coach Tommy Phelps, Hitting Coach Phil Plantier and Bullpen Coach Doug Davis, all of whom are returning to the RailRiders dugout. Julio Borbón joined the Yankees organization in March and will serve as the Defensive Coach for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

SOME PHUTURE PHILLIES: MLB.com has a number of players on the Lehigh Valley IronPigs listed as top prospects in the system. According to their initial MLB Pipeline rankings, five players- all pitchers- rank as Top-30 prospects: RHP Enyel De Los Santos (No. 6), LHP JoJo Romero (No. 7), LHP Ranger Suarez (No. 10), LHP Cole Irvin (No. 16) and RHP Edgar Garcia (No. 28). In addition to De Los Santos, Romero, Suarez and Irvin, the IronPigs have Jared Eickhoff and Drew Anderson, who were both top-30 prospects at times in the past few years, round out an early-season six-man rotation.

Check out the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders Statistics

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SWB Game Notes - Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders

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