IL1 Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders

SWB Game Notes

Published on July 24, 2019 under International League (IL1)
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders News Release


SCRANTON/WILKES-BARRE RAILRIDERS (58-43) @ COLUMBUS CLIPPERS (59-41)

RHP Brody Koerner (3-1, 3.75) vs. RHP Shao-Ching Chiang (6-6, 5.56)

| Game No. 102 | Huntington Park | Columbus, OH | July 24, 2019 | First Pitch 7:05 p.m. |

COLUMBUS, OH (July 23, 2019) -- Just four pitches into the game the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders led 3-0 and the Columbus Clippers would get no closer the rest of the way as the RailRiders took the first game of a six-game roadtrip from the Clippers, 11-6.

Before the largest crowd of the season at Huntington Park, the RailRiders used plenty of power to distance themselves early against the Clippers before a less-than-bemused crowd of 11,555. SWB began the game with the first four batters of the game scoring runs, and for the seventh time this season the RailRiders plated at least four runs in the first inning, making it 4-0 before Columbus even came to bat.

On 10-cent hot dog night, the hits were nearly as plentiful for the RailRiders as the 20,525 hot dogs sold at the ballpark. MLB Rehabber, Cameron Maybin, was as good as could be advertised in working his way back from a calf strain. He singled sharply to left field on the very first pitch of the game and later homered in the middle innings against the team he played for earlier this season. Clint Frazier (4-for-4, 2B, 2 HR), Thairo Estrada (3-for-5, 2B, HR) and Tyler Wade (1-for-5, HR) all contributes homers to the 11-run effort.

RAILREHABBERS: It was announced entering Tuesday's series opener that OF Cameron Maybin would be rehabbing with the RailRiders and in the lineup on the road in Durham. In his first rehab game since going on the Injured List 6/23 (calf strain), the righty was 4-for-5 with a home run in his third at-bat and a single on the very first pitch of the night off RHP Michael People's. Maybin joins RHP Ben Heller, RHP Domingo German, OF Giancarlo Stanton, OF Aaron Judge, INF Didi Gregorius and OF Aaron Hicks on the list of Yankees rehabbers for the RailRiders this season. A year ago, SWB had 10 different Yankees play games with them: Greg Bird (INF), A.J. Cole (P), Brandon Drury (INF), Clint Frazier (OF), Aaron Hicks (OF), Tommy Kahnle (P), Billy McKinney (OF), Gary Sanchez (C), Masahiro Tanaka (P), Adam Warren (P).

NOT-SO-SWEET 16: The RailRiders won Tuesday' series opener against Columbus to return to the high-water mark of 15 games above .500 for the eighth time this season, but are 0-7 in their attempts to get to 16 games above .500. They first got to 15 games above .500 June 23 with a win over the Durham Bulls that made them 44-29, but have now gone just 14-14 in the 28 games since.

NORMALLY KEEPING IT DOWN: The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders entered the weekend series against the Louisville Bats as one of the best teams in the International League in terms of fewest HR allowed by the pitching staff. Going into the weekend, the RailRiders had allowed 108 HR in 814.1 IP (1 HR every 7.1 IP) which was one of the top marks in the league. Louisville clocked 11 HR on the weekend over 27.0 IP - all of them coming in a 16-inning span from Friday through Sunday. Despite that, the pitching staff is still third best in the league with 120 HR allowed. Prior to Friday night (4 HR) the RailRiders had allowed 3 HR in a game just twice. Two days later, they allowed a season-high 5 HR to the Bats Sunday afternoon.

A QUICK PROJECTION: Tuesday featured a win by the RailRiders (58-43, .574) and one by the team closest to them in the IL North standings, the Buffalo Bisons (53-48, .515). Scranton/Wilkes-Barre has 39 games to go in the regular season and holds a 5.0-game lead on the Bisons for first place after hitting the All-Star break with a 5.5-game lead. That means if the RailRiders were to go 20-19 (.513) the rest of the way, the Bisons would need to go 25-14 (.641) to catch them in the division. These two teams play four games over four days at PNC Field to wrap-up the regular season leading into Labor Day.

RECORD WATCH: The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders have already well eclipsed their season home run total from a year ago and are now closing in on the franchise record with 159 HR in 101G (1.57 HR/G), which far exceeds the rate for the 132 HR they hit all of last season (0.96 HR/G). The franchise record of the 164 HR (1.15 HR/G) was set by the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons in 1998 over a 142-game season. With the new baseball in Triple-A, a number of records will be under assault as the calendar turns to August, including Slugging Percentage which is at .496 entering Wednesday, well ahead of the .449 mark put up in 1998 and .023 points ahead of the Gwinnett Stripers who are second in the league. The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre franchise record for runs in a season is 746, set in 1998 (5.25 per game), and this season's team is currently 6th in the International League in runs with 556, but they are on pace to break the franchise record with 5.50 per game. They are currently at 389 extra-base hits, and are on-pace to break the mark of 488 set back in 1998 as well. An odd record the RailRiders seem to be on track to shatter is the fewest GIDP in a season. The record is 96 set by the inaugural team in 1989, and this year's team has grounded into just 55 so far through 101 games.

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International League Stories from July 24, 2019


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