IL1 Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders

SWB Game Notes

August 10, 2019 - International League (IL1)
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders News Release


GWINNETT STRIPERS (68-48) @ SCRANTON/WILKES-BARRE RAILRIDERS (64-53)

LHP Tucker Davidson (Triple-A Debut) vs. RHP Adonis Rosa (4-0, 3.45)

| Game No. 118 | PNC Field | Moosic, PA | August 10, 2019 | First Pitch 6:35 p.m. |

MOOSIC, PA (August 9, 2019) -- The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders fell to the Gwinnett Stripers, 10-2 in the first game of the series Friday night at PNC Field.

SWB starting pitcher Jonathan Loaisiga was on Major League rehab and struck out the side in the top of the first inning. He tossed 3.0 scoreless innings before handing the ball off to Brody Koerner out of the bullpen. All told, he retired nine of the 10 men he faced while striking out four.

The Stripers grabbed the lead in the top of the fifth as Sean Kazmar Jr. hit a two-run double to dead center off Koerner. Then, Drew Waters tacked on a two-out, two-run homer to right for Gwinnett, 4-0. Pedro Florimon hit a solo homer for the Stripers in the top of the fifth, adding an additional tally to the board, making it 5-0.

After Thairo Estrada and Tyler Wade reached with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre attempted to rally with Ryan McBroom booming a two-run double to right-center field, plating the only two runs for the RailRiders which cut the deficit to 5-2.

HOME SWEET (?) HOME: The RailRiders entered Tuesday's series-opener against the Charlotte Knights with the best home record in the International League at 38-18 (.679). After losing four games in a row at home for the first time in 2019, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre looks to get back on the right track and avoid a five-game losing streak which would be the longest this season for the RailRiders.

NOT SO GLOVELY: Scranton/Wilkes-Barre enters Friday's series opener against the Gwinnett Stripers having committed just 77 errors on the season, which is the third fewest in the 14-team International League. Entering Wednesday however, the RailRiders were atop the league, but a seven-error performance over the last 48 hours has knocked them back a few pegs. The game matches the four-error performance from May 20th vs. the Pawtucket Red Sox for the most errors in a game by the RailRiders defense all season -- but the second time in the last 11 games the team has committed 3+ errors. Friday night the RailRiders avoided any defensive miscues in their 10-2 loss to the Stripers.

LOTS OF FACES: When RHP Janson Junk and RHP Daniel Bies both appeared in Friday's series-opener against the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, they became the 65th and 66th players to play in a game for the RailRiders this season. With his start Wednesday, Gary Sanchez became No. 67 and Thursday's starting pitcher, RHP Brian Keller was No. 68 for SWB. That brings the total to 33 position players and 35 pitchers, which is still shy of the record of 75 players used in games by the 2015 Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders. By comparison, last year's team featured 69 players and 2017 featured 65. LHP Josh Maciejewski was added to the RailRiders roster Saturday directly from Single-A Charleston, and he could be No. 69 to get into a game for SWB this year.

A QUICK PROJECTION: Friday featured a loss by the RailRiders (64-53, .547) and a loss by the team closest to them in the IL North standings, the Buffalo Bisons (59-58, .504). This has set up a three-way tie with the Rochester Red Wings and Syracuse Mets for second place in the division entering Saturday. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre has 23 games to go in the regular season and holds a 5.0-game lead over the Bisons/Red Wings/SMets for first place (the largest lead this season was +8.0 GB June 20 following Game No. 70). That means if the RailRiders were to go 12-11 (.522) the rest of the way, the Bisons would need to go 17-6 (.739) to catch them in the division. However, these two teams play four games over four days at PNC Field to wrap-up the regular season leading into Labor Day.

MAKING MOVES: With 23 games remaining in the regular season, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders are keeping up their torrid pace... of roster moves. As the calendar turns to August, SWB had made 232 total moves (April, 44 | May, 64 | June, 59 | July, 66) which is far ahead of last season's pace in which the RailRiders had made 207 total moves through July (April, 36 | May, 53 | June, 43 | July, 76) in a year in which they made 275 roster moves total (1.99 moves/game) during the regular season. SWB has now made 261 following Saturday's flurry of moves and is averaging 2.21 moves/game this season and is on pace for 310 roster moves through the end of the year.




International League Stories from August 10, 2019


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