IL1 Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders

SWB Game Notes

Published on August 16, 2019 under International League (IL1)
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders News Release


SCRANTON/WILKES-BARRE RAILRIDERS (65-57) @ GWINNETT STRIPERS (70-51)

RHP Michael King (Season Debut) vs. LHP Tucker Davidson (0-0, 0.00)

| Game No. 123 | Coolray Field | Lawrenceville, GA | August 16, 2019 | First Pitch 7:05 p.m. |

CHARLOTTE, NC (August 15, 2019) -- The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders finish the midweek series- and the season series- against the Charlotte Knights without a win, falling Thursday night 7-5 before 9,652 fans at BB&T Ballpark.

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre began the scoring in the top of the first inning. After consecutive outs to begin the night, Tyler Wade and Trey Amburgey notched consecutive doubles off Charlotte starting pitcher Justin Nicolino to put the RailRiders ahead 1-0. They nearly doubled the lead when Trey Amburgey stole third base and the throw from Seby Zavala was wild and sailed into left field. Amburgey popped up and came home, but the home plate umpire ruled he himself had interfered with the throw and sent Amburgey back to second base. The RailRiders settled for a 1-0 lead after a half inning of play.

Charlotte began the scoring shortly thereafter with a run in the bottom of the first inning off starting pitcher Nick Nelson. Nick Madrigal walked to begin the game for the Knights, stole second base and then jogged home on Luis Robert's double.

Nelson tossed 5.0 innings in his Triple-A debut, allowing a run in four of the five innings he pitched. Charlotte methodically added to its lead using solo home runs by Seby Zavala and Luis Robert in the early innings, before Zack Collins cracked a home run off Josh Maciejewski in the bottom of the sixth. The southpaw, Maciejewski, pitched at BB&T Ballpark as an undergrad when he attended UNC-Charlotte from 2015-2018. Trailing 6-1 entering the seventh inning, the RailRiders used a pair of home runs from Mandy Alvarez (3) and Zack Zehner (9) to rally back to within a pair of runs at 6-4. They trailed 7-5 entering the ninth inning and received a leadoff single from Erik Kratz, but the next three men were retired in order as the RailRiders offense ran out of steam down the stretch.

HANGING ON: The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders fell Thursday night in Charlotte for their eighth straight loss on the road, dating back to the start of being swept in a three-game series in Louisville, July 26. In its last 14G, the team is 3-11 falling from 16-games above .500 with a 6.0-game lead in the division to just a 3.0-game lead in the division over Buffalo with Syracuse and Rochester just 4.0 games back each.

LONGEST HIT STREAK: RailRiders INF Breyvic Valera enters Friday's series opener against the Gwinnett Stripers with an 11-game hitting streak under his belt. Because of his time up in the big leagues, this streak dates back to 7/20 and at 28 days is the longest in days elapsed of the season. It currently stands three games shy of his own 14-game hit streak from 5/23 - 6/7 in which he hit .462 (24-for-52) as the longest of the season by a RailRiders batter.

DUBIOUS HISTORY: After 29.5 seasons of Scranton/Wilkes-Barre baseball, no pitcher had allowed more than 14 hits in a game. Over the last 6G, RHP Brody Koerner and RHP Brian Keller have each allowed 16 H in an outing for the RailRiders, including Keller's performance Tuesday in Charlotte. The Knights rapped out 23 hits in the game, and only twice in franchise history have the RailRiders allowed more in one game.

SLUGGISH IN THE SUMMER HEAT: Scranton/Wilkes-Barre comes to Charlotte to take on the Knights at BB&T Ballpark, one of the most hitter-friendly venues in the International League. The RailRiders offense needed a jumpstart offensively, and got one despite falling 13-12 in 10 innings Wednesday night to drop 7-of-their-last-8. Over the previous 7G before exploding for 12 runs on 11 hits, the RailRiders had not scored more than 4 runs in a game, plating just 16 runs (2.28/game) in that stretch. The team batted .174 (38-for-218) to lower the season AVG to .274 which is still good for 3rd in the league behind the Rochester Red Wings and Toledo Mud Hens.

MAKING MOVES: With 18 games remaining in the regular season, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders are keeping up their torrid pace of roster moves. Following a year in which they made 275 roster moves total (1.99 moves/game) during the regular season. SWB has now made 288 heading into Friday's game against Gwinnett. The team is averaging 2.34 moves/game this season and is on pace for 327 roster moves through the end of the regular season.

LOTS OF FACES: LHP Tyler Lyons is set to make his New York Yankees organizational debut out of the bullpen at some point during the three-game series down in Lawrenceville, GA, and when he does so he will become the 73rd player to appear in a game for SWB this season. When RHP David Hernandez grabbed the ball from RHP David Sosebee in the 9th inning Wednesday night, he became the 71st player to play in a game for the RailRiders this season and Thursday's starting pitcher, Nick Nelson, was No. 72. This exceeds the 2018 team's total roster of 69 players, and far surpasses the 2017 mark of 65. The RailRiders are creeping up on the all-time franchise record of 75 players in a single season, set in 2015.

RESTED FOR THE HOMESTRETCH: The entire International League got Monday off and all the teams have regrouped and are ready for the sprint to the finish of the regular season, Labor Day. The teams across the league have 21 games in 21 days starting Tuesday as the division leaders look to hang on for their playoff lives, with other teams nipping at their heels. The RailRiders (65-57, .533) are being closely followed by the Buffalo Bisons, Rochester Red Wings and Syracuse Mets as the division becomes more tightly bunched with the calendar moving through mid-August. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre has 18 games to go in the regular season and holds a 3.0-game lead over the Bisons for first place (the largest lead this season was +8.0 GB June 20 following Game No. 70). The RailRiders and Bisons wrap up the season by playing four games over four days at PNC Field to wrap-up the regular season leading into Labor Day.

Check out the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders Statistics

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International League Stories from August 16, 2019


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