IL1 Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders

SWB Game Notes

Published on July 4, 2019 under International League (IL1)
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders News Release


ROCHESTER RED WINGS (41-42) @ SCRANTON/WILKES-BARRE RAILRIDERS (49-35)

RHP Sean Poppen (4-0, 2.37) vs. RHP Randall Delgado (1-3, 5.20)

| Game No. 85 | PNC Field | Moosic, PA | July 4, 2019 | First Pitch 7:05 p.m. |

PAWTUCKET, RI -- The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders beat the Pawtucket Red Sox 5-3 at McCoy Stadium on Wednesday night to sweep a three-game set. Kyle Higashioka, Thairo Estrada and Zack Zehner all hit home runs to help the RailRiders sweep a series for the fifth time this season.

After being held in check in the first, the RailRiders opened the scoring in the second inning for the second straight game. Higashioka drilled the first pitch he saw from Teddy Stankiewicz to the bleachers in right-center; a 406-foot drive for the All-Star's 13th home run of the year.

Ben Heller made a rehab appearance for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, working the first two innings, allowing a pair of hits and striking out a pair. In the third, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre added three runs on three hits. Tyler Wade doubled home Clint Frazier before Estrada hit a 1-1 pitch on to the left field berm to extend the advantage to 4-0. It was Estrada's fifth of the season for the RailRiders.

The PawSox tallied back-to-back homers in the bottom of the third. Adonis Rosa relieved Heller and surrendered home runs to Cole Sturgeon and Chris Owings cutting the RailRiders edge to 4-2. Rosa and Stankiewicz settled in over the next four innings. The Pawtucket starter allowed one hit between the fourth and seventh innings while Rosa faced two over the minimum. The RailRiders reliever allowed a single and a sac bunt in the eighth but closed the inning with a strikeout and a line out to center.

BRINGING THE HEAT: J.P. Feyereisen tossed a scoreless ninth inning Monday night to close out a 5-1 win over the Pawtucket Red Sox. Over his last 9G, spanning 12.0 shutout IP, Feyereisen has allowed just 4 H (4-for-40, .100 BAA), 1 BB (0.42 WHIP) and struck out 21 batters (15.8 K/9). In the process he has lowered his season ERA from 3.04 to 2.09 as he was nominated to his second mid-season All-Star team (2016 Eastern League All-Star Game, Akron RubberDucks). For the season, Feyereisen leads all International League relievers in Batting Average Against (.142 BAA), Strikeout Rate (13.73 K/9) and is second in lowest baserunner rate (8.38 baserunners/9).

MAKING MOVES: With under 60 games remaining in the regular season, the five teams looking up at the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders are looking to make moves in the standings. The RailRiders simply keep looking to make (roster) moves. As the calendar turned to July, SWB has made 167 total moves (April, 44 | May, 64 | June, 59) which is far ahead of last season's pace in which the RailRiders had made 131 total moves through June (April, 36 | May, 53 | June, 43) in a year in which they made 275 roster moves during the regular season. With 14 more moves over the first three days of July to bring the total to 181, SWB is averaging 2.15 moves/game this season.

SLIDING INTO JULY: The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders wake up Monday morning with a 4.0-game lead in the IL North Division after dropping a fourth straight game Saturday night to the Lehigh Valley IronPigs. The last time they were only 4.0 games up in the division was following a loss 28 days prior June 7th against the Syracuse Mets. With a series sweep against the Pawtucket Red Sox to begin July, the RailRiders were able to avoid their longest losing streak of the season and jump back to a 6.0-game lead in the division thanks to a pair of losses by the Buffalo Bisons against the Lehigh Valley IronPigs.

LESS THAN A WEEK: The entire International League has four days remaining until the unofficial midway point of the season with the Triple-A All-Star Game in El Paso, Texas. Last season's All-Star Break fell after game 87 of the season- it is expected to fall after game 89 for SWB this year- and the RailRiders were 46-41 (.529) on the year and 5.5 games in back of the Lehigh Valley IronPigs for first place in the division who were 52-36 (.591).

MORE POWER: Logan Morrison homered just over a week ago to became the sixth member of the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders to record double-digit homers this season. He three more over the next three games and is now up to 15 longballs on the season. He has joined Mike Ford (19), Ryan McBroom (16), Trey Amburgey (14), Kyle Higshioka (12), and Brad Miller (10) among the team leaders. Last year's team had only six players with 10+ homers. Up next for the 2019 RailRiders: Breyvic Valera (9), who has 10 homers overall this season including one home run he hit with the Sacramento RiverCats before being designated for assignment.

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