IL1 Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders

SWB Game Notes

Published on August 21, 2019 under International League (IL1)
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders News Release


PAWTUCKET RED SOX (54-72) @ SCRANTON/WILKES-BARRE RAILRIDERS (67-60)

LHP Kyle Hart (9-5, 3.86) vs. RHP Nick Nelson (0-1, 7.20)

| Game No. 128 | PNC Field | Moosic, PA | August 21, 2019 | First Pitch 7:05 p.m. |

MOOSIC, PA (August 20, 2019) -- The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders fell to the Pawtucket Red Sox 7-4 Tuesday night at PNC Field. Despite the RailRiders taking the lead early in the contest, the PawSox gained momentum in the top of the third and held the advantage.

In the bottom of the first, RailRider Terrance Gore chopped a ground ball down the first base line and as second baseman Deiner Lopez tracked it down in shallow left field, Gore sprinted around first and headed for second. The throw got away into shallow left field and Gore stood at third base with one out. That set up Clint Frazier to drive him home and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre took a 1-0 lead.

Pawtucket answered two innings later with a two-run double by C.J. Chatham as he laced a line drive into the left field corner in the top of the third that scored Oscar Hernandez and Cole Sturgeon. Following his double, Jantzen Witte drove him home with a single to extend the lead to 3-1.

In the top of the fourth, the PawSox added a run and extended their advantage to 4-1. Then, Hernandez scorched a two-run home run into the left-centerfield for Pawtucket in the top of the sixth to push the lead to 6-1. RailRiders starting pitcher Brody Koerner (4-4) worked 6.0 innings and allowed six runs on 10 hits before being followed out of the bullpen by Joe Mantiply (1.0 IP), Ben Heller (0.2 IP) and Ryan Dull (1.1 IP).

WALKING TO THE FINISH: INF Gosuke Katoh has been in the midst of a hot stretch of his season where he has been finding his way on base in any way possible for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders. In 16G since returning from the Double-A Trenton Thunder, the infielder is batting 15-for-49 (.306 AVG), 2B, 2 HR, 7 RBI, 16 BB (.477 OBP) and 3-for-4 SB. Entering Wednesday's game, Katoh has reached safely in 16-of-his-last-23 plate appearances (.696 OBP), going 5-for-12 (.417 AVG) with 11 BB.

A TALE OF TWO WEEKS: Over those 7G, the RailRiders not scored more than 4 runs in a game, plating just 16 runs (2.28/game) in that stretch in which the team batted .174 (38-for-218). Since then, the last 7G have been a lot more favorable for the RailRiders offense as they have scored 50 runs (7.1 runs/game) and batted 80-for-257 (.311 AVG) in that time.

HANGING ON: The RailRiders used a pair of wins Sunday and Monday to snap a six-game losing skid, winning the two games by a combined 20-4. In its previous 16G before the two wins, the team was 3-13 falling from 16-games above .500 with a 6.0-game lead in the division to just a 1.0-game lead in the division. They now hold a modest lead over the Syracuse Mets (1.0 GB) with the Buffalo Bisons (2.0 GB) and Rochester Red Wings (3.0 GB) hot on their heels. Before this recent span of games, the last time the lead in the division was as small as 1.0 games entering Sunday's series-finale was May 30th when they improved to 48-40 on the season as they were growing the lead in the division after just taking over first place from the Syracuse Mets.

NOT GETTING OUTHIT, BUT STILL NOT GETTING WINS: The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders have been mired in a tough stretch where wins have been tough to come by. Despite that, they have amassed as many hits as their opponents in 7-of-their-last-9 games in their current slide and have lost 5-of-7 of those. Before that, the team was 59-19 (.756) in games in which they weren't outhit by their opponents.

MAKING MOVES: With 13 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 306 heading into Wednesday's game against Pawtucket, which breaks the 2015 season record of 305 moves in a year. The team is averaging 2.39 moves/game this season and is on pace for 337 roster moves through the end of the regular season.

LOTS OF FACES: When RHP Ryan Dull entered in out of the bullpen in the top of the 8th inning he became the 75th player to appear in a game for the RailRiders this season. LHP Joe Mantiply made his SWB 2019 debut Sunday and in doing so became the 74th player to appear in a game for the RailRiders this season. LHP Tyler Lyons entered out of the bullpen Friday night for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders for his New York Yankees organizational debut against the Gwinnett Stripers as the No. 73 player in a RailRiders uniform. This number now far exceeds the 2018 team's total roster of 69 players, and far surpasses the 2017 mark of 65.

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International League Stories from August 21, 2019


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