SWB Game Notes

May 1, 2019 - International League (IL1)
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders News Release

ROCHESTER RED WINGS (10-14) @ SCRANTON/WILKES-BARRE RAILRIDERS (10-12)

RHP Zack Littell (1-2, 4.50) vs. RHP Chance Adams (1-1, 6.75)

MOOSIC, PA (April 30, 2019) -- The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders smashed a season-high five doubles, but fell 11-2 to the Rochester Red Wings on Tuesday night at PNC Field.

Ryan McBroom continued his hot hitting by leading off the bottom of the second inning with a double, his third in the last two games, and scored two batters later on a Gosuke Katoh infield single to give Scranton/Wilkes-Barre a 1-0 lead. Katoh finished the night 2-for-3 with an RBI and a walk, pushing his season batting average up to a team-leading .355.

Rochester responded with three runs in the top of the third against Jonathan Loaisiga, and tacked on three more runs in the next two frames to take a 6-1 advantage through five innings. The six runs allowed by Loaisiga in his second Triple-A outing ties a career high for most runs allowed in a start.

J.P. Feyereisen tossed a scoreless sixth inning but allowed a two-run home run in the seventh to Jordany Valdespin to expand the Red Wings lead to 8-1, and an unearned run against David Sosebee in the eighth ran the gap to 9-1. The RailRiders struck back with a run in the bottom of the eighth courtesy of back-to-back doubles from Cliff Pennington and Brad Miller, but Tyler Duffey was able to escape the frame without any further damage. Rochester benefitted from a Drew Maggi two-run home run in the top of the ninth to pad its lead to 11-2.

LOOK AT KATOH GO: INF Gosuke Katoh hit safely in both ends of Saturday's doubleheader to extend a recent hot stretch to a 6G hitting streak in which he had batted 12-for-22 (.545 AVG). It raised his season average to .364 entering Monday night, but fell to .339 following Monday's 0-for-4. After a 2-for-3 performance Tuesday the average has once again climbed to .355 which has him 8th in the International League. Thanks to his team-best 5 HR and ability to walk, he also began the week 7th in the league in OBP (.435) and 4th in slugging (.673) which gave him the 2nd best OPS in the league at 1.108 -- just a few points behind Louisville's Josh Van Meter for the league lead.

NOW YOU HAVE CC'N HIM IN TRIPLE-A: As a corresponding move to LHP CC Sabathia returning from the Injured List in the big leagues two weeks ago, RHP Jonathan Loaisiga was transferred to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. The 24-year old Nicaraguan made his Triple-A debut with SWB in Game 1 of a doubleheader 4/17 against the Lehigh Valley IronPigs and yet has still has made almost as many appearances in the MLB (12G/6GS) as he has in full-season Minor League Baseball (15G/15GS with Charleston/Tampa/Trenton/SWB). In a pair of starts this season for the Yankees, Loaisiga has a 3.86 ERA (3R/3ER in 7.0 IP) including his first start of the season 4/3 @ Detroit where he allowed just 1H over 4.0 IP. His most recent appearance came out of the bullpen against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 4/24 in which he picked up the win in a 6-5 comeback victory by the Yankees. With Tuesday night's loss to Rochester, Loaisiga is now 0-2 in 2GS with the RailRiders, compared with 3-0 in his MLB career.

A TALE OF TWO SEASONS: The new MLB baseballs being used in Triple-A starting this year has been a discussion piece among players, fans and media members alike in 2019. After a month of play, here's how the April numbers compare:

HITTING 2019 | 2018

AVG .264 | .259

OBP .343 | .328

SLG .439 | .377

Runs 114 | 95

HR 27 | 15

PITCHING 2019 | 2018

ERA 5.10 | 4.06

HR Allowed 24 | 14

Runs 113 | 94

BAA .245 | .257

SPEEDING TO THE END OF THE FIRST MONTH: Last season's version of the RailRiders recorded 49 SB on 79 tries (62.0%) which was 11 fewer SB than any other team in the league (Lehigh Valley & Gwinnett: 60 SB), and by percentage was the second worst in the league (Louisville, 60.0%). That said, last April was a strong month for SWB on the base paths, going 14-for-15 in SB but only 35-for-64 (54.6%) over the final 115G of the season (1 SB every 3.3G from May 1st onward). The 2019 RailRiders are off to a torrid start, having gone 21-for-24 (87.5%) over the first 22G of the year, well ahead of Charlotte (12-for-15, 80.0%) for best percentage in the league.

Check out the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders Statistics

International League Stories from May 1, 2019

Red Wings Lose in Extras, 8-6, Wednesday - Rochester Red Wings
Mets Reclaim First Place with 8-2 Victory over IronPigs - Syracuse Mets
IronPigs suffer third straight loss to Syracuse - Lehigh Valley IronPigs
McBroom Brings to Boom to Lift RailRiders in 10 - Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders
PawSox Rained out Again in Buffalo - Pawtucket Red Sox
Wednesday's Bisons/Red Sox Game Postponed - Buffalo Bisons
New Ball, New Norm: Home Run Totals Skyrocket - Indianapolis Indians
Three Home Runs Not Enough in Loss to Columbus - Indianapolis Indians
Charlotte Storms Back, Beats Gwinnett 10-7 - Charlotte Knights
Mud Hens Denied Critical Home Run in Loss to Bats - Toledo Mud Hens
Stripers Outslugged in 10-7 Loss at Charlotte - Gwinnett Stripers
Bulls Can't Contain Tides' Bats in Series Finale Loss - Durham Bulls
O'Grady Leads Bats to Series Victory, Winning 4-3 - Louisville Bats
Bisons Game Notes - Buffalo vs. Pawtucket (6:05 p.m.) - Buffalo Bisons
Game Information: Indianapolis Indians (13-11) vs. Columbus Clippers (15-10) - Indianapolis Indians
SWB Game Notes - Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders
Eric Byrnes Visits Frontier Field May 8 - Rochester Red Wings
Game Notes: Louisville Bats (10-16) at Toledo Mud Hens (9-15) - Louisville Bats
Mets Hold on for 18-5 Victory - Lehigh Valley IronPigs

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