IL1 Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders

SWB Game Notes

Published on July 26, 2019 under International League (IL1)
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders News Release


scranton/wilkes-barre railriders (60-43) @ louisville bats (40-63)

RHP Deivi Garcia (2-0, 4.50) vs. RHP Keury Mella (6-10, 4.70)

| Game No. 104 | Louisville Slugger Field | Louisville, KY | July 26, 2019 | First Pitch 7:00 p.m. |

COLUMBUS, OH (July 25, 2019) -- The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders used three home runs to set a new season franchise record, and sweep the Columbus Clippers 10-6 Thursday afternoon before 10,100 fans at Huntington Park.

Mike Ford stepped to the plate in the top of the sixth inning with a runner aboard and the RailRiders already leading 7-0. He launched the first pitch he saw from Jon Edwards out of the ballpark in right field and trotted around the bases with his 21st homer of the season. The blast was the third of the game for the RailRiders (and 12th of the three-game series) to give them 165 home runs this year, eclipsing the previous record of 164 homers hit by the 1998 Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons.

Ford's home run came on the heels of a Trey Amburgey homer which made it 2-0 SWB in the third inning, and a grand slam by Wendell Rijo - the decisive swing in the ballgame. The grand slam came after the RailRiders loaded the bases on three consecutive singles to begin the inning, seemingly setting the stage for a big frame. After the starter Aaron Civale was lifted in favor of Edwards, he struck out the first two batters he faced to turn from a bases loaded situation with no outs, to being one pitch away from escaping trouble with two down in the frame. After issuing a four-pitch walk to Francisco Arcia, Rijo stepped to the plate and crushed his grand slam to left-centerfield and make it 7-0.

RECORD SETTERS: When Mike Ford blasted a two-run home run clear out of Huntington Park in the sixth inning Thursday afternoon, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders set the franchise record with 165 HR in the first 103 games of the season (1.60 HR/G), which far exceeds the rate for the 132 HR they hit all of last season (0.96 HR/G) and eclipsed the previous franchise record of 164 HR (1.15 HR/G) over 142 games set by the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons in 1998. With the new baseball in Triple-A, a number of other offensive records (and dubious pitching records) will be under assault as the calendar turns to August, including Slugging Percentage which is at .499 entering Friday, well ahead of the .449 mark put up in 1998 and .026 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 4th in the International League in runs with 574, but they are on pace to break the franchise record with 5.57 per game.

THE KING RETURNING TO HIS THROW'N: A look at the Short-Season A Staten Island Yankees box score Thursday night and they came away with an 8-1 win over the Connecticut Tigers. The Tigers were held off the board by Yankees pitching until the seventh inning, but by then RHP Michael King had already exited the game after 4.0 scoreless frames. It was King's fourth appearance on his way back from a stress reaction in his right elbow, and his first above the GCL. He scattered four hits over the outing in which he needed 56 pitches (38 strikes) to get through four innings without a walk or a strikeout.

RAILREHABBERS: It was announced entering Tuesday's roadtrip opener that OF Cameron Maybin would be rehabbing with the RailRiders and in the lineup on the road in Columbus. 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 Peoples. After playing in all three games against Columbus, Maybin has posted a .462 AVG (6-for-13) with 2 2B, HR, 2 RBI, BB on his rehab stint entering Friday. 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).

A LONG-AWAITED SWEET 16 PARTY: The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders finally got to celebrate setting a new high-water mark in 2019 by reaching 16 games above .500 with after winning the first two games of this week's series against the Columbus Clippers. After winning Tuesday' series opener against Columbus, they were at the high-water mark of 15 games above .500 for the eighth time this season, but had been 0-7 in their previous attempts to get to 16 games above .500. The team wasted very little time quickly improving to 17 games above .500 with Thursday's 10-6 win. 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 16-14 in the 30 games since.

A QUICK PROJECTION: Thursday featured a win by the RailRiders (60-43, .583) and one by the team closest to them in the IL North standings, the Buffalo Bisons (54-49, .524). Scranton/Wilkes-Barre has 37 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 19-18 (.514) the rest of the way, the Bisons would need to go 25-12 (.676) 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.

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International League Stories from July 26, 2019


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