IL1 Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders

SWB Game Notes

Published on August 25, 2019 under International League (IL1)
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders News Release


SCRANTON/WILKES-BARRE RAILRIDERS (70-61) @ LEHIGH VALLEY IRONPIGS (61-68)

RHP Brody Koerner (4-4, 5.38) vs. LHP Cole Irvin (5-1, 4.11)

| Game No. 132 | Coca-Cola Park | Allentown, PA | August 25, 2019 | First Pitch 1:35 p.m. |

ALLENTOWN, PA (August 24, 2019) -- The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders grabbed an early lead over the Lehigh Valley IronPigs thanks to MLB rehabber Luke Voit, but seven unanswered runs put the IronPigs ahead for good in Saturday's 7-3 win over SWB.

Voit strode to the plate to begin his second rehab game for the RailRiders and lofted the second pitch of the night high over the wall in left field- just beyond the leaping effort of Ali Castillo- to give Scranton/Wilkes-Barre a 1-0 lead. Voit finished the night reaching in 3-of-5 plate appearances, adding a single and walk later in the game.

The RailRiders used an RBI triple by Breyvic Valera in the top of the third inning off Lehigh Valley starting pitcher Jerad Eickhoff to plate a run and grab a 2-0 lead. As the IronPigs immediately scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the inning to tie the game, the RailRiders saw their lead disappear for good.

The fifth inning featured five runs, including three of them charger to starting pitcher Brian Keller before he was knocked from the game with one out in the inning. Keller was charged with the loss, falling to 1-2 after allowing five runs (all earned) on eight hits while walking four batters over 4.1 innings. Eickhoff earned the victory for Lehigh Valley by scattering just three hits and two runs over 5.0 innings before turning the ball over to his bullpen.

The lone damage done to Lehigh Valley's bullpen was a titanic home run off Ryan McBroom's bat in which he demolished a ball over 430 feet off the tiki hut roof in left field for a solo home run in the eighth inning that made it 7-3.

FERROUS-IOUSLY HANGING ONTO THE IRON: The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders entered the three-game weekend series needing to sweep the Lehigh Valley IronPigs in order to retain the IronRail Trophy. Given out each year to the team that wins the head-to-head regular season matchup between the I.L. North rivals, the RailRiders grabbed the trophy back from Lehigh Valley in 2018 by gong 11-9 in 20 games. This season, the teams play 18 games in the regular season, and with three straight wins this weekend the RailRiders would have split the series 9-9 and retained the trophy, but Lehigh Valley broadcaster Pat McCarthy was presented with the trophy in an informal ceremony in the press box following the final out of Saturday's 7-3 loss.

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 20G since returning from the Double-A Trenton Thunder, the infielder is batting 22-for-63 (.349 AVG), 3 2B, 2 HR, 11 RBI, 18 BB (.494 OBP) and 3-for-4 SB. Entering Sunday's game, Katoh has reached safely in 25-of-his-last-39 plate appearances (.641 OBP), going 12-for-26 (.462 AVG) with 13 BB.

A TALE OF TWO WEEKS: Despite going just 5-6 over the last 11G, the current stretch of games has been a lot more favorable for the RailRiders offense than the week prior. They have scored 72 runs (6.5 runs/game) and batted 114-for-382 (.298 AVG) in that time. Over 7G before that recent stretch for the RailRiders, they had 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).

HANGING ON: The RailRiders used a win Sunday over Gwinnett to snap a six-game losing skid, and have now won 5-of-7 by a combined score of 46-27. In its previous 16G before the run of good play, 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 (1.5 GB) with the Buffalo Bisons (4.0 GB) and Rochester Red Wings (4.0 GB) hot on their heels.

MAKING MOVES: With 9 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 311 heading into Sunday's game against Lehigh Valley, which breaks the 2015 season record of 305 moves in a year. The team is averaging 2.37 moves/game this season and is on pace for 332 roster moves through the end of the regular season.

LOTS OF FACES: With INF Luke Voit appearing at 1B and playing six innings for the RailRiders Friday night, he became the record-setting 76th player to appear in a game for SWB this season; 35 position players and 41 pitchers. This number now far exceeds the 2018 team's total roster of 69 players, and the 2017 mark of 65.

RAILREHABBERS: Yankees INF Luke Voit made his rehab debut for the RailRiders Friday night at Coca-Cola Park, finishing 0-for-3 with a walk before homering Saturday night in his second game with the team as part of a 2-for-4 performance with a walk. He joins C Gary Sanchez, RHP Jonathan Loaisiga, OF Cameron Maybin, RHP Ben Heller, RHP Domingo German, OF Giancarlo Stanton, OF Aaron Judge, INF Didi Gregorius and OF Aaron Hicks on the list of 10 total 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).

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International League Stories from August 25, 2019


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