IL Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders

SWB RailRiders Game Notes - June 20, 2021

Published on June 20, 2021 under International League (IL)
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders News Release


Syracuse Mets (11-29) vs. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (27-11)

RHP Jesús Reyes (0-6, 6.97 ERA) vs. RHP Deivi García (1-2, 8.10 ERA)

| Game 39 | Home Game 21 | PNC Field | Moosic, PA | June 20, 2021 | First Pitch 1:05 p.m. |

FOR MY NEXT (DIE)TRICH: When play began on June 6, SWB infielder Derek Dietrich was hitting only .119/.316/.237, and had endured an 0-for-27 skid to end the month of May. However, beginning with a 1-for-2 performance against Lehigh Valley that night, Dietrich has found success at the plate in his last 10 games, batting .320/.469/.600 (8-for-25) with 6 R, 1 2B, 2 HR, and 8 RBIs. The run of success at the bat has improved his season batting line to .179/.361/.345, a 153-point leap in OPS.

ALL ABOARD THE TREY TRAIN: RailRiders outfielder Trey Amburgey had his 18-game hitting streak snapped on Tuesday night, when he went 0-for-2 with a walk and two RBIs against the Mets. The 18-game streak is the longest for any one player in Triple-A East this season, and was actually a 20-game streak dating back to the final two games of the 2019 season. Despite the hit streak ending, Amburgey extended his on-base streak to an impressive 29 consecutive games dating back to August 26, 2019. He is hitting .379/.445/.680 (39-for-103) in that span. The SWB franchise record for longest on-base streak belongs to Brandon Drury, who reached base in 32 straight games in the 2018 season.

OTHER STREAKS OF NOTE: In addition to Trey Amburgey's impressive run, the RailRiders offense features two other players with double-digit on-base streaks. Outfielder Greg Allen is riding a season-long 16-game on-base streak into play on Sunday afternoon, and infielder Hoy Park has reached base safely in 17 consecutive games. Allen has also played in two other games this season in which he did not record an official plate appearance, therefore not jeopardizing his streak and spent time on the injured list in the middle of his streak. Park sports an absurd .562 OBP during his streak, which has propelled him to the Triple-A East lead in OBP (.514) and OPS (1.156), and is second in the league in AVG (.358) and SLG (.642). The infielder also ranks t-3rd in Triple-A East in walks (25), trailing only Nolan Jones of Columbus and Worcester's Marcus Wilson (27).

OH WHAT A RELIEF IT IS!: Since Kyle Barraclough relieved Albert Abreu in the sixth inning of the RailRiders game at Buffalo on Friday, June 11, the SWB bullpen has performed at an amazing clip. In the last eight days, the bullpen has combined for a 1.78 ERA (7 ER/35.1 IP), while allowing just 23 hits, 10 walks and 41 strikeouts. The current stretch has lowered SWB's bullpen ERA to 3.10 on the season, the 11th-best in all of minor league baseball, and fourth-best in Triple-A East (Buffalo, 2.46). RailRiders closer Luis García leads all minor leaguers with 11 saves on the season.

MEET THE METS: For the first time since the opening series of the season, the RailRiders take on the Syracuse Mets in a six-game series at PNC Field this week. After losing on opening night, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre reeled off five straight wins to close the series at NBT Bank Stadium in an impressive offensive showing. The Baby Bombers hit .306 AVG/.426 OBP/.578 SLG in that series, slugging 15 home runs and scoring at least 10 runs in a game twice. The RailRiders and Mets also played the longest game in SWB franchise history in a 4-hour, 9-minute marathon on May 6, a 17-11 final. Unbelievably, that was the first of two four-hour games in that series (also May 9) and one of four four-hour games that SWB has played this season.

BEAT THE METS: PNC Field is quickly turning into a house of horrors for the Syracuse Mets. Before Thursday's wire-to-wire win for the RailRiders, the team had erased multi-run deficits to defeat Syracuse in each of the last three games the Mets played here (Game 141 of the 2019 regular season and the first two games of this series). The Syracuse bullpen was particularly battered in those contests, pitching to the tune of a 19.17 ERA (25 R, 22 ER/10.1 IP), on 22 H, 11 BB, and 8 K. In the current series, the Mets bullpen has blown three saves in four games. Under the Mets affiliation (2019 - Present), Syracuse is just 2-11 at PNC Field, and has lost 10 straight to SWB in Moosic.

COMEBACK KIDS: The RailRiders erased multi-run deficits four times en route to victory in their last 10 games. On Tuesday, they trailed 5-0 and eventually won 7-5, with a two-run single from Derek Dietrich in the top of the eighth putting SWB ahead for good. Then on Saturday, the RailRiders erased an early 4-0 advantage to win 6-4 in 10 innings. Andrew Velazquez put the RailRiders on top in the 10th inning when he scampered home on a wild pitch. On Tuesday at PNC Field, the RailRiders overcame an early 5-0 deficit to win 12-6 and Wednesday trailed 5-2 in the fifth before a 10-inning walk-off win. Overall, the RailRiders have 13 come-from-behind wins this season, with five of those comebacks being completed in the seventh-inning or later.

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